Well, not quite. I had another blog in which I spent a lot of time agonizing over the whole business of publishing a book. I’ll probably keep agonizing here. But at least the following things are now true:

  • Publishing path chosen (self-publishing, ‘wide’).
  • Pen name chosen, domain purchased (you’re soaking in it!)
  • PO Box rented, so that I can have a mailing list. Apparently this is a thing one needs.
  • Professional ebook-generating software purchased (Vellum).
  • Blurbs sent to people I don’t actually know in real life, for critique, ahead of sending out some review copies.
  • Bright and shiny twitter account, which I will continue to approach with trepidation. Fortunately, my one and only social media friend, @ghostwritingcow, followed me over from my old identity.

But having finally immersed myself in some self-publishing street knowledge, there is a new set of concerns. This list is smaller and fairly manageable, but does contain one fly in the ointment. The fly is that the successful self-published authors are writing one book every few months, are writing hardcore to the trends (‘billionaire boyfriend werewolf BBW shifter romance’), and think it’s dumb to publish your first novel unless you have another one ready to go within ninety days, maximum.

I can’t work that fast. Novels are a thing of passion for me. But completely aside from passion, or notions of quality vs. quantity, selling out, whatever, I have a full-time job and a lot of days where no writing will happen. Most days, in fact.

That said, I do have a second novel in the works. I know that ‘almost done’ is a weasel phrase, but it’s almost done. And a third conceptualized, and a fourth. But this idea that you must publish every few months or be forgotten forever sounds just about as hellish as spending a couple of years fielding rejection letters and kissing ass.

It’s okay, though. At some point in the last couple of weeks, I’ve turned a corner; I’ve realized I have to stop waiting for something to happen, waiting for some kind of sign, and to stop trying to discover the ‘right’ way to do all of this. I just need to do it  in a way that is right for me.

My first novel, Your Name, In Fire, is something I’ve spent several years working on. I had the idea a long time back, but didn’t begin working on it in earnest until summer of 2014, after a health scare. I first pronounced it finished around November of 2014, then spent most of 2015 realizing how wrong I was.

Now it’s finished, and soon it will see the light of day.