A to Z(ed) blogging Challenge - (my) Life in the TIme of CoVid-19
S is for Self-Publish
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| First two of five pages of notes |
Last June I attended a zoom presentation on how to self-publish my novel. I wrote a novel in November 2015 during the Nanowrimo challenge. I edited it two years later during Nanowrimo 2017.
Periodically I have posted snippets of the novel on this blog. You can find the first post of 30 here from November 2017. I sent my novel out into the world the summer of 2019 to have a dozen beta readers take a look at it, and I received positive and helpful feedback.
I have sent chapters into a couple of writing competitions and received polite rejection letters.
Where is my novel now, you may ask? It is in a drawer in my craft room. It is edited and converted to an epub version, and there it sits.
I took all the notes last June from the zoom session, but I have yet to start doing anything else about it. I want to. I want to get my novel out into the world. I think it is a good novel and I don't expect to put it into the world to make money or get accolades. I just want to put it out there because it is a novel about a woman struggling with depression and finding stepping stones towards healing and re-connection with others and mostly with herself. I think it is a story that needs to be shared.
Why don't I? Partly I am procrastinating on all the steps: getting a ISBN number, making a cover page, picking the genre, deciding which ebook platform to put it on.
Partly I think it is because I have felt like I am not a writer, even though I know intellectually I am a writer and a poet because I write prose and poetry. Through this A to Z(ed) challenge I had the startling realization that I AM A WRITER. I had spent about four hours on an earlier post. I AM A WRITER. I am not a writer that sits down every day from nine to five and writes, but I am a writer and I know/feel intrinsically that what I write at times is good. Sometimes even very good.
But mostly?
Mostly, I am afraid. Afraid of criticism. Afraid of my novel not being received in the same spirit it was written in.
I need to find my big girl panties, and get going. It is not like I don't have time since our lockdown and possibility to travel is on hold for at least another six weeks or so.
Maybe if I post this I will get going.
That is my hope.
Any encouraging words and/or advice would be welcomed in the comments.
I think anyone who hosts a blog could be called a writer but to have completed a book to the point where it is ready to publish - that makes you an author. Now all you have to do to become a published author is just do it. Get it out there and published. Yes it might not sell. You might get negative feedback but you might also get good comments and interest. You won't know unless you try and if you don't try there will always be that nagging "what if I'd published my book?". Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYou can do it! Go for it!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Wendy's comments. A friend of mine was furloughed during lockdown and wrote a book and it's on Amazon now so it is do-able. Another friend had a literary agent and it took longer but hers is also a hardback copy. Check what genre Matt Haig's novels are because his are about depression to some degree. I just finished The Midnight Library by him. I know I've had to put my big brave girl pants on a few times and I'm always glad I did. So go for it. Be an author!
ReplyDeleteLet me encourage you. Do it! Consider that you've really done the truly hard work - you've written from your heart. Now the rest is technical kind of stuff. Release it, knowing you've said what you wanted to say. And how others react to it really isn't yours to worry about. Of course, I know that's so much easier to say than do, but what if you simply made that your intention? Wishing you all the best!
ReplyDeleteI’ve read it. I’ve read lots of your stuff. Of course you’re a writer... a bloody good one. Would be easier if you paid someone else to the final commercial stage of actually publishing for you? If so, an ex- student of mine who lives in Arizona could certainly quote to do the job for you. ( I used to teach Editing & Professional Writing at several colleges)
ReplyDeleteThree words: just do it! 💖
ReplyDeleteI remember reading snippets from your novel and loved them. Here I sit waiting for your book to publish and to find out it is in a drawer made me sad.
ReplyDeleteYes, you can do it! And I understand your struggles because I have the same self doubts. But I have yet to write a novel! So that means that you are for sure a writer! Best wishes in getting that novel published!!!
ReplyDelete