About "An Eventful Summer", my first novel

So, I just managed to publish my first novel, navigating all the steps, and taking what I think was the simplest way to get it published and visible - via Amazon and choosing Kindle Unlmited. I need to gain experience, and learn about other options, to see whether this was a good idea or not. But for the moment, I'm satisifed. Though... if supposedly easy... this was not sooo easy.

The writing of the first draft was the easy part. In my case, this book just spilled out of me. I don't know why or where it came from. And I didn't even have the plot well formed when I started writing. I just wanted to return to summer camp and spend time there, and created a sort of dream world where I could do that. This resulted in 50k words in about 3 weeks. I may eventually experience writers block, and I suspect it could come from higher ambition in my novels, or doing a historical fiction book, or anything that requires some research. That's gotta slow you down. This one, I could just "pants" my way through it.

Then next hardest thing was editing and revision. I paid two "beta readers" to read and review it, and they were both pretty honest that the plot was thin and there were too many internal thoughts, maybe just too many words. I went back and cut this down (though it's probably still true). And I added some more plot elements. This caused some stickyness. I really didn't want to change things, but I now feel the changes made it a significantly better book, with the second half providing some suspense. I suspect I'll have moments in the future where I think of more things I coudl do to improve it... but, it's done and out, and so I'll just have to live with any such moments.

The hardest part was getting from revised draft to published, including editing, proof reading (and then finding many typos even after proof reading), and final re-write and really careful self-checking, but probably still with some typos - maybe? Then paying for formatting, cover design, and finally getting help navigating the Amazon KDP system. Sheesh. All I can say is that I learned a lot and next time these things should be less challenging. So I'm off to write my next book now... see you in a few weeks.

PS - I actually am writing it, and for now it is called "Jim and Renee: A Philadelphia Story".