Chapter 87 - Chapter 87: On-Shelf Note: A New Year’s Letter to Readers (2/2)
Let’s write something relaxed and humorous!
This time, after much pain, I decided I must polish the opening and the early ideas thoroughly before publishing, so I shamelessly pestered the ten thousand order author for revisions.
“It’s written too hastily,” “It doesn’t evoke the emotions,” “It’s not good enough”…
Rewrite, ask for help, revise, rewrite, ask for help, revise, rewrite, ask for help, revise, rewrite, ask for help, revise, rewrite, ask for help, revise…
Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite…
Ten times!
For a long, drawn-out month, I repeatedly conceived and reconstructed, continuously transforming my understanding of web novels, and after rewriting ten times, I finally got the answer I wanted.
“Good, this will do.”
I went for it!
Published.
Waiting for a contract.
Contract successful.
Waiting for a recommendation.
Barely made it through the trial.
Waiting to rush the charts…
Rushing the charts.
…
First place in seven charts! Eight thousand seven initial orders! Nine thousand readings!
Wow, invincible!
However, the readings began to drop continuously, and I couldn’t hold on, so I simply gave up and kept writing for a month until I looked at the readings again.
It had fallen to three thousand.
The average orders kept sliding, from a ten thousand order book down to just over eight thousand. Thankfully, the recommendations slowly helped it recover. Because I received negative feedback daily, the comedy novel became less relaxed, and writing every day became dull.
Long-term sitting, lack of sunlight, absence of friends, no attention, frugal living, and daily acceptance of new declines…
My mental state also began to slide downhill.
Finally, after one hundred and fifty thousand words, I finished the book and breathed a sigh of relief.
I started trying to open a new book with joy and anticipation.
2020-2023, the Metamorphosis Phase
With a backlog of thirty thousand words, I published.
A flop.
Backlogged fifty thousand words, I tried publishing again.
Another flop.
Almost no social life, a monthly mortgage of over eight thousand, a sick family member, half a year of unemployment, the future uncertain, various thoughts in my mind, and nights and nights of insomnia.
I began to get irritable and angry, especially when the people around me urged me to find a job and said I was just playing games.
Anxiety, a mental illness common among full-time authors, crept up silently.
Finally, I found my groove again.
This time, I planned to write another invincible story. I saw a book about a little girl being sacrificed to the Evil God, so I decided to write a book where the protagonist, as the Evil God, is summoned by a little girl.