Blogiversary Celebration and Giveaway: Welcome to Author N.R. Walker!

First off, I want to congratulate The Novel Approach team on their five year anniversary!  It’s a HUGE feat in this industry, and a testament to their dedication in helping readers and authors connect.

It’s also a bit of a coincidence, because it’s my five year anniversary too!  Last month marked five years since I submitted my first ever manuscript to a publisher.

So I’m going to talk a little bit about what a milestone such as five years means.

Five years. Five long, exhausting, amazingly incredible years.

I’m sure it kinda works like dog years. Five years in the writer/reviewer industry must be equivalent to a hundred million years. Or something like that. Some days I feel like I’m battle weary, some days I still feel like a newbie.

I don’t really have any infinite words of wisdom, but if someone were to ask what it takes to make it five years, my first answer would be hard work. And lots of it. I’m lucky enough to now write full-time, but it wasn’t always the case. I remember working a full-time, stressful job, with two kids under six, writing after everyone went to bed until 2am trying to get words down.

I’d go to work on just a few hours sleep every day, some days I got no sleep at all. But the drive to write was strong. I knew in my heart I could do it. And who needs sleep anyway, right?

So what is hard work? How hard could it be to write a book? According to Earnest Hemmingway, all one has to do is to sit at their typewriter and bleed.

Lemme tell ya. That sounds about right.

Hard work is hours and time, mental anguish, emotional frustration (at characters and at your real life family who don’t understand the hours it takes) and personal sacrifice. It is tears, heartbreak, grief, and so much self-doubt it could be declared a natural disaster.

But it’s also amazing, and rewarding, and a balm to the soul.

Ask any writer why they write, and the answer will be some variation of they don’t have a choice.

But bloggers do. And reviewers do. They give untold HOURS of their time, they miss family obligations, burn dinners, lose sleep, because they choose to do what they do. I’m certain they sometimes wonder why they do it, and I’m certain sometimes it’s a fulfilling, rewarding part of their day. They don’t have to do it. Yet they do.

Writers couldn’t do what they do without their readers and reviewers.

That’s kind of important, so I’m gonna write it twice.

Writers couldn’t do what they do without their readers and reviewers.

Bloggers and reviewers are the cheer squad, the fact-checkers, the reality-checkers. And more often than not, the underappreciated. So let’s take this opportunity to thank review blogs and their reviewers.

To enter for the chance to win a $10USD Amazon gift card, comment on The Novel Approach comment section below and share the love. Tell us why we love their reviews, why we love their insight and opinions.

The Giveaway

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