August 11, 2021
Day 314, Week 44
- Emotional State: Approaching the Finish Line with a Cramp in my Calf
The First Book
So, the final cover is done. I’ve approved the spine and the jacket. And it looks like a book. A real book. And that makes me a real author… almost.
I’ve also signed up for all the platforms to put my book on, which was anti-climatic. I’m not sure what I expected it to be, since it’s just an account set up, but it definitely didn’t feel as big as I wanted it to be.
I want it all to feel as big as this book feels to me. My first, my only, my debut novel after way too many years of not writing. And maybe that’s expecting too much.
Nah.
In other news, I’ve spent too many hours sorting out my website. I thought the theme I picked would make adding a book landing page much easier than it did. But it doesn’t. It makes it harder. So, back to the drawing board. A new theme. A new landing page construction and lots of frustration. It’s supposed to be easy and it’s not. I’m fairly tech savvy and struggled way too hard on it. I spent 30 minutes trying to find a way to shrink the contents to the same level on the constructed landing page as the theme and it was a simple slider change. Sigh.
So be on the lookout for the new theme. Once it’s out of staging, I’ll be testing it in the live environment. I’d apologize for it looking crappy, if I were any good at it. But I have two weeks to get it done. Two weeks before my book is live and two weeks before my marketing kicks in hard core.
And that brings me to my next pain point. Marketing. I used to do it for a living. I know how to do it and yet I have to say, it’s so much harder than I remember. And it’s different. And it requires a lot of social media planning. And writing. And engagement. And research.
I’ve been working the social media channels pretty hard for about a year and I’ve made progress. Everyone says to focus on two channels. And I am… sort of. But I just can’t not do other channels. I don’t know why I can’t just ignore the other channels. It’s like I need to do the scattergun approach and yet I’m not licensed for it. Why am I doing the scattergun approach again?!
Oh boy. I think I’m making this too complicated and driving myself crazy in the process. And I haven’t even begun book review outreach or any of the other promotional pieces I have in my not so organized plan.
But hey, my book jacket is done!
The Second Book
I am making progress on book 2. I am – I wrote 3 chapters so far. And then I came to a screeching halt because I hit my favorite wall. World building. I have an organization who doesn’t use humans, so who’s cooking the food and cleaning the floors? Who are the secretaries? Do I make them just random Community members who see it for what it is – good pay, decent job, close to the safe zone?
I have no idea. But this thought, this research, this world building is what sank my other book, the post-apocalyptic book from a few years ago. I never did figure out where the people came from. I just walked away from it. And I can’t do this with this book.
I mean, I can walk away, but I’m not going to. I want to see it through. I want Seraphina’s journey to end in a specific way. And that way is not a file on my computer untouched since 2017.
Current plan – keep on writing it. The first draft is just to figure out what happens anyway. So what if I need to change this information or update the second draft to fit it all in? It’s all part of a writing a book. Right?
And that leads me to the realization that I am not as much of plantser as I thought I was. I’m flying a bit blind here – I have some ideas of what’s to happen, but no real plan. And yet, three chapters in and going strong.
Until I stop making it happen. Panic ensues. Cue the evil imposter syndrome laugh track until I fill out that spreadsheet and figure out my plot. And once again become the plantser I always knew and love. Or not.
Did I mention yet today how much I love spreadsheets?
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