A Life Trilogy

Obviously we all know that a trilogy is a series of three books that are connected in some way. For a long time, I thought a trilogy had to be read in a particular order. Then I read an article a while back that stated that each book in the trilogy should be able to stand alone. I don’t necessarily agree with that because clearly some trilogies are meant to be read in order, or you wouldn’t have a proper flow to the story. You would have missing pieces if you didn’t read the series in sequence.

The “life” trilogy I’m writing does not need to be read in any order. In fact, when I wrote the first book, A Life Unplanned, I didn’t know I was going to write a second and third book about the same family.  For those of you who don’t know, A Life Unplanned is about the life of my mother. When doing research for her story, I found a lot of information about her parents. Some things I already knew, and as I gathered even more of their history, I felt their lives would make a good story, too. Thus, the second book, A Life Well Loved, took shape and became a reality.

Now for my third book, I’m writing about my life with my husband. It’s not definite, but I’m leaning towards the title of A Life Time After Time. Why? Because “time after time,” we have faced many turns of events in our life that were not in our plans.  It could almost be titled “A Life Unplanned—Part 2.” We thought, or had planned, to live in Ohio are entire married life. Our biggest move was going to be from Akron to Canton, Ohio, which is a whopping 30 miles south of Akron. My husband’s job was more centered around Canton (he worked in several physician offices), so it made sense to eventually make a move down there. Not only did that not happen, we wound up moving to Idaho. We fell in love with our new home and again planned to spend the rest of our lives there, or at least far into our retirement. Instead, we moved to Las Vegas.

All of the above is going to be explained in my third novel. The point I’m trying to make is that, even though all three stories are centered around the same family, they are not a continuation of each story. It won’t matter in what order you read these books. If you only read one or two, you won’t need to wonder what happens in the next or last book. Having said that, you do need to know there will be a little bit of repetition in each book, simply because they are connected in that they are the same family. But the focus is on different members of that family. A Life Unplanned centers on my mother, Kate. A Life Well Loved  is about her parents, probably  a little more about her mother, Ella Mae. This last book is all about Kate’s daughter, which would be me, Jackie, and my very unplanned life. 

There are some incidents repeated depending on how they relate to each character, but those incidents will only be in detail in one book, not all three. The reason I bring this up is because I did have a review where the reader felt A Life Well Loved  was a repeat of A Life Unplanned but in more detail. I’m perplexed as to why she felt that way, because that simply is not the case. I do mention Kate’s life-changing occurrence in her mother’s story, but not in any lengthy detail.

So while I hope you will read all three stories, if you only choose one or two, that’s okay, too. I know there are millions of books from which to choose, so I am very grateful if I am on your reading list. If you are not certain about my style of writing, you can read excerpts from chapters of both A Life Unplanned and A Life Well Loved in my blog.  You can find their location by clicking on the list of posts on the right of your screen.

As always, thanks for hanging out. Keep reading, keep writing, and enjoy your day!

A Lesson Learned

I know I have written in the past about the importance of proofreading. In my previous career as a medical transcriptionist, a big part of my job was proofreading reports as a working MT and then proofreading test keys and other curricular projects when I became an instructor. So you would think that would be one mistake I couldn’t make once I became a full-time writer. Guess again! When I completed my first novel, A Life Unplanned, obviously I was very excited about that, especially since it took me  a year to write it.  I did proofread my screen copy and my printed off copy, as well as my editor also proofreading and making some changes. Then I did another reading before I uploaded my final copy.

I did a quick review of the online version but didn’t read it thoroughly.  I ordered a proof copy, but instead of reading the printed book, I only checked each page carefully for any spacing errors. I assumed (and you should never assume) that no further proofreading was necessary.  I knew there would probably be a few minor errors here and there. As I have said many times, it’s not about being 100% correct 100% of the time. I don’t think I have ever read a novel that didn’t have a few errors, even from the major publishing houses.  I published my first novel and received good reviews and feedback and of course was thrilled.

When I completed my second novel, I decided to read my printed proof book and not just check it for spacing errors.  I did find some errors, nothing too major, but the point is I found them, even though I had already proofread the manuscript many times, as well as my editor doing the same.  It made me stop and think that maybe I should read my proof copy of A Life Unplanned to see if I would find any further errors. I was truly surprised that there were several errors.

What really brought all of this home to me was recently I had two reviews of A Life Unplanned. One was 4 stars, with the reviewer stating she loved the story, even commenting that she was glad I included recipes in the back of the book that are mentioned in the story. The other review was 3 stars, with the reader saying she enjoyed the story but was not happy with the errors. I suspect she had an older copy, which is why she saw the errors I found when I re-read my proof copy. Let me tell you, that was definitely a cringe-worthy moment for me.  It also cost me what could have been 4 stars and possibly even 5 stars.  My reference book, The Practical Writer, was written for the main purpose of writers taking the steps outlined in that book to make sure your 5-star story doesn’t include 1-star quality.  I didn’t follow my own instruction!

When I completed my first novel, I was beyond excited. I couldn’t believe I actually wrote an entire novel. I was so anxious to get this book out there that I lost sight of the importance of taking that final step to ensure the quality is where it should always be. If you don’t think it’s as vital as the story itself, look at what it cost me. There may even be some readers who won’t purchase my book because of the review.  And I definitely do not blame the reader. She not only expected a good story, but she expected good quality, and I didn’t deliver.  

It’s a wonderful accomplishment to complete a novel, whether it’s your first or twenty-first. But don’t let that excitement overshadow the importance of the quality of the content within your story. Don’t lose out on 5 stars like I did.   It definitely was a 5-star lesson for me. Keep writing and remember to enjoy your day. Thanks for stopping by. Always let me know if you have questions or comments, too. They are welcome any time!  Take care.