Am I being dragged, sucked and propelled toward the edge of
a thundering waterfall? This past April, after years of writers' conferences,
meetings with agents, query letters, and buying, begging or borrowing writing
books from which to study, reflect on, and hone my skills, I decided to
self-publish. To go from the excitement of having a literary agent ask for my
manuscript, then making major changes, to never hearing from them again, was probably
the proverbial "last straw" or possibly "the last entire
log"...(Yes, I did use a clique′.)
As far as my writing goes, you know how it is—one day I feel
like my writing is magnificent, the next day I feel the same writing is a pile
of shit. My son once aptly told me, "Some people will like your book and
others won't. You can't appeal to everyone."
With some kindly recommendations, I found a professional
editor this spring. Honestly, I didn't expect to work so hard after years of
editing my young adult novel...His eye for detail was astounding! I received my
second edit this past month. Now onward with the self-publishing journey.
No matter how high the bar feels like it has gone, it still
goes higher. Reformatting my novel for Smashwords so it can also be distributed
to Barnes and Noble, Apple and Sony has been a challenge. Next task is
reformatting for Kindle. I think my brain is going to split with analyzing it
all.
Of course, I am required to have a cover for my ebook or
novel before publishing through most outlets. Thankfully, I have found expert help
to design my cover.
Turning my novel into a tangible paperback is another
hurdle. I'm slowly working my way that direction. It is all a bit intimidating.
I want to do it well, as good as possible. There is so much to keep track of as
I work toward self-publishing, a steep learning curve.
This all said, I haven't even begun to touch the awesome
task of marketing in our age of technology and social media. Meanwhile, I hope
there are still young people who enjoy reading.
The question I ask as I rush headlong is, "Will I
become one with the water as it sparkles, glitters and bounces playfully over
the precipice, each tiny droplet set free? Or will the encounter be something
else? Not nearly so pleasant, but still an adventure?