point of view

Happy 10th Anniversary–To Me!

Posted on by Brenda Poulos
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It’s the ten year anniversary of the publishing of my first book, Runaways: The Long Journey Home. Curious to see if I had improved as a writer over the last ten years—and eleven books later—I decided to begin rereading all of my books in the order in which I wrote them. 

So far, I see my biggest growth over time has been in the technical aspects, in sentence structure, vocabulary, and point of view.

Runaways is filled with flawed characters who face the challenges of life—and I have continued on that path for the rest of my books. My message of hope and forgiveness has run throughout the last ten years. I suspect future books will also proclaim the same central theme because if there’s anything the world needs right now, it’s hope and forgiveness.

I am enjoying the process of reading my own work after such a long period of time. I think it would prove to be a good exercise for any author wanting to improve their craft.

If you’re a writer, share your thoughts on this process and what you’d like to discover about yourself.

Great Expectations

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

The book started out pretty well. It met all of my expectations. It was a page turner.

However, about the middle of the book things started getting bogged down. Plot problems, character problems, difficulties with point of view. There were even errors in grammar and spelling.

I considered giving up on the book because the author just wasn’t delivering the goods. I was disappointed. I had spent about twelve hours reading the book so far, and was at the point where I would either have to cut my losses or keep reading in hopes that the author would be able to pull it all together in the end. 

Readers ask that authors deliver on our promises. 

Before buying a book, the back cover, reviews, advertising and friends’ recommendations help make for a somewhat informed decision on the part of the consumer. 

After the purchase, readers settle into that comfortable chair and expect to be wowed.

Whether you are a well-known writer with a huge following, or you have yet to publish your first book, we must all write something that is worthy of being read.