What have I done???

There are so many things I wish I would have known prior to deciding to become a self-published author. The first of which is, this is a LOT of stinking work! Seriously. A LOT of work that I wasn’t aware would be involved.

Naive little me thought I would write, edit, then upload to KDP…

Nope.

That isn’t how it’s done, my friends.

Once you delve deep into the rabbit-hole that is self-publishing, you find that you will be consumed with all things writerly. This may not be daunting to some, but it was, and is to me. As I began to do research on the topic, about half-way through writing the first book in my series, I started researching some of the things that would be ahead of me. You know, so I would be ready with my little list once I was ready to hit ‘publish’. Holy hell, if I had looked into any of this, I may have said, “Nah, forget it. Mama ain’t got no time for dat.” and moved on with my regularly-scheduled life.

I certainly wouldn’t have told a soul that I was writing a novel.

Now there are EXPECTATIONS.

There are family members who have read part of my book, and are excited to read it all.

There are acquaintances that have found out through the grapevine (mostly via my well-meaning husband) who are sitting back and waiting for me to fail at this.

Now there are FEARS.

What if nobody wants to read what I have lovingly written on the pages for them?

What if my work sucks ass and nobody buys it?

What if I don’t at least recoup the money I have spent on a cover and editing fees?

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Then, I find that I am actually behind on things that I never even knew I should be doing. Just writing and publishing the book are the tip of the iceberg. I need a website! (Welcome by the way.) I know nothing about building a website, so this one is pretty basic, but then again, I am pretty basic, soooo… I need a presence on social media. Thankfully, I already had an Instagram account (click on the icon and follow me, if you don’t mind, thanks.) I set up a Twitter account, and up til now have tweeted exactly one thing. Prolific, eh? I still have to set up a Facebook thingy, well, I’ll link an author page to my actual account. I haven’t gotten to that yet, but I will.

The things necessary to achieve success are daunting, but my insecure, introverted butt is getting them done.

The moral of the story is to persist. To keep on with the good fight. To make your dreams happen—no matter how scary the road there may be. Eventually, I will look back on this whole thing and laugh my ass off, because that is my default in life. Everything is scary, until it isn’t.