July 21, 2021
Day 293, Week 41
- Emotional State: Stuck in the Middle
The First Book
The book is in layout right now. And I could say layout hell, since I’m battling with my LE on what I want specific sections to look like and they are not as open to the suggestion as I’d like them to be.
But it’s my freakin’ book and I want it to look a certain way.
Speaking of, I’ve picked my cover. It has been tweaked and massaged and we’re sticking with it as is. I like – I think it represents the book and looks good. I’ll reveal it at a later time…when I’ve got the spine and back cover done as well.
We’re 6 weeks out from go live and I think I’m in denial. I’ve been feeling like I’m not moving backwards, but I’m not moving forwards either – limbo is real. Part of it is just – I’m tired. I’ve been blasting away at this book since October and I’m a little burnt out. And I just want it to market itself.
Part of it is fear. Once it’s out in the world, if no one reads it, no one will give it a negative review. But I wrote it for people to read and that is such a stupid cycle to be stuck in. I want people to read it, but if they don’t know it exists then how can they?
Marketing
Right. This is where the emotional shift HAS to happen. I need to swap out what I think about marketing and use what I know from being a marketer, and what I’ve read/heard/watched others say, and create a marketing plan.
It needs to be sustainable. It needs to be a bit flexible, but also set up so that I spend the least amount of time doing it. And I need to have fun with it too. Not always, but more often than not.
I am not a video/on camera kind of girl. It’s not my preferred way of doing things because I’m vain and I don’t like the way I look on camera. But I’m going to get over that for two reasons.
- Videos, Vlogs, Fleets, Reels, and Tik Tok are the way social media appears to be moving. Instagram announced a push towards Reels instead of images recently, to the dismay of many who prefer images and memes. If I want to stay current, I need to film some video stuff.
- When my world builder and I did an IG livestream about the book, I really enjoyed it. I love talking about writing, I love talking about my book and why shouldn’t I take advantage of the video push to do that?
And so, I’m creating a plan of sorts. With the goal of being efficient at it and trying new things. I need to do some research, but I’m good at that. And I might create a giant calendar made of tape so that I can put up what’s happening where. And that sounds like so much fun! (I might just buy something that does the same thing…just saying).
Who wouldn’t want calendar art on their wall? (My husband, that’s who.)
The Second Book
I haven’t made as much progress on the second book as I’d like. Part of it is being stymied by what I want it to be about, but most of it is because I just haven’t focused on it. I don’t know what I’ve been focusing on lately, but it isn’t that book.
I have created a history document for why the CIA version in my book exists – the Security Forces of the Free Folk (SF). My world builder hasn’t looked at it yet, but there’s been so conversations about it. It might have been a little more heated than normal.
And that’s the other reason. My world builder isn’t in a great head space to help me sort this out right now. We’ll get there, but I think I need to focus on everything else first.
So, I’m mapping out what the SF looks like, where it’s located, and how it functions. And then I’ll write the backstory for one of my new secondary characters (they’re all new, except for Demi) and maybe just start writing the story to see where it goes.
I’m a plantser, so I don’t want to have to rewrite the entire thing because of a massive change in world building structure, but I also don’t want to lose the momentum I’ve got.
And that’s where I want to end this. I heard somewhere that:
Passion is momentum.
You have to build up the momentum one step at a time to get the train moving and then it moves on its own.
For this second book, that’s what I need to do, start small and get the train moving, even if I end up completely redesigning the train, the track or the end destination.
That’s the plan, anyway.
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