The Learning Curve

Wow, writing a book is a whole lot more complicated and involved than I ever thought it would be. And there are so many people involved in the process as well!
When I first set out to write my children's book. I thought right, I'll write it, get Matt to read it, someone else will edit it and then bam! It will be finished. (HA)
I have written it, then rewritten it, built on the characters, sent it out to people, got feedback, rewritten, more feedback, more rewriting, printed it out, scribbled all over the print out, reworked it, got more feedback, rewritten again. And I'm still working on it! (Phew!)
But you know what? I am learning so much. This isn't just about writing a book. It's about becoming involved in the whole book world. You can't just be an author on your own anymore. A writer needs a support network. People who are willing to read my work and give me advice. I need to build up a network of people who might want to read my finished work as well. Then there are writers groups and workshops, people who edit my work and proof it for me. It's like a whole community that I've become involved in.
I need to know the book trends. What are people reading right now? Who publishes what? Do I want to self-publish? And are people actually going to want to read what I am writing? Who knows?
But it's good and it's fun and it's exciting.
It's also been a huge learning curve, one that I'm not finished climbing but I'll get there. One day.