Which better than balls to the wall, I guess. Although I might be at the 'balls to the wall' stage before too long. But I digress...
I have a lot of balls in the air right now. And I've never been much of a juggler.
I'm working on getting Dying Embers ready for publication. Ugh, this was part of the reason I held onto the idea of being traditionally published for so long. There's a lot to do and I really wanted someone else to have to do it. Just to give you an idea:
I had to find and contract an editor.
I had to find and contract my own cover artist.
Round one edits*.
Round two edits*.
Receive and evaluate cover samples.
If samples aren't right, do the back and forth thing with the artist. (I assume. I don't know exactly how this part works.)
Format book for everywhere it needs to sell. (Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, print, etc.)
Learn about formatting.
Work on marketing.
Be visible so when my book does come out people aren't all 'who is this chick again?'
Since I've never been traditionally published, I assume they would do most of that without me - with the exception of the starred bits. And the marketing would fall on me as well as them. I guess.
And there's getting the next book ready enough to be able to send it off to my editor in March without her wanting to poke out her eyes with a pointy stick. At which point, the process will begin again.
Add to that the unwise move of paying for a month of Ancestry.com (what was I thinking), and the whole furbaby dental extravaganza, and I'm juggling chainsaws at the county fair.
Life, writing, editing, life, writing, editing, life... well you get the gist.
And let's not talk about housework, shall we? Thank the gods Hubs does the laundry or I'd be writing this post naked. Also, thank the gods I use dish washing as a break. It's hard to eat chili off a paper plate.
Still, it's kind of exciting. Soon I'll have a book people can buy and read. I'll have a book I can hold in my hands and put on my shelf. And that's worth every ball I can throw into the air.
Just keep your fingers crossed I don't drop any of them. ;o)
You won't. You've wanted this for a long time and you're not going let go now. Chin up!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Fran! The chin is up!
DeleteThis is why writing is a career--every bit as much a job as getting up in the morning, driving to an office, and working for someone else. You have the talent, the drive, and I'm cheering you on! You can do this. More importantly, you WILL do this! :D
ReplyDeleteNow put the mouse down, close the web browser and get to work! (Me, too!!!!)
Yep, Silver, without the added stress of a boss or a commute. ;o) Thanks! And yes, I will.
DeleteExcept for yesterday, when I was so dragged out from not sleeping, I spent the day in a haze. No writing and no genealogy.
You can do it! In fact, you did all this when you worked in an office. No sweat. ;-)
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, trad publishers don't bother to market anymore. They expect the author to do 99% of the marketing, publicity, public outreach... All of my weakest skills. (Who am I kidding? I don't have *any* of those skills.)
Thanks, Deb! Yeah, I suspected publishers don't do that much marketing anymore. Too bad selling books isn't like selling widgets. I excelled at selling widgets.
DeleteI'm feeling your pain. I like organization and right now I feel like I'm living in chaos. It's nerve-racking. It's supposed to snow tonight. I hate snow, but in a way I think I'll be glad something will keep me in. Maybe I'll get some work done. :)
ReplyDelete:hugs: Sorry you're in the nerve-wracking place. And that you were getting snow. Did you get it? That's the spirit! Snow = a chance to work. =o)
DeleteI did get snow. And I did get some editing done. I also got some exercise done from shoving the driveway. I could have done without that last part! :)
Delete