My debut self-published story collection ‘And The Angels Cried and other stories’ is launched on Amazon Kindle tomorrow. I’ve hardly slept for a week and have been obsessively checking and double checking everything. I can do no more.
I have read, with great interest, many blogs written by friends and colleagues who have gone down a similar path to mine and have found them, without exception, to be filled with great advice for the novice self-publisher. Without their help, the tricky process of formatting, negotiating the author interface on Amazon and pricing dilemma would have been much, much harder. But what I haven’t been prepared for is the sheer emotional anxiety of the process.
Maybe it’s just me. I don’t normally consider myself a worrier, but I do obsess about the little things. I am a control freak. There, I’ve said it.
My family are always complaining at how early I choose to leave for appointments because I have a morbid fear of being stuck behind a tractor and turning up late. I re-arrange the dish-washer so that the plates and pots will, in my opinion, have a better chance of being washed properly. I’ll usually take 17 pictures of a subject ‘just in case.’ Can you imagine how out-of-control I feel now the publishing process has begun?
I feel as sure as I can that I haven’t forgotten anything, but what if I’m wrong? What if my friends have just been kind to me all these years and I can’t write for toffee?
Tomorrow will be the proof or not. And to be honest, I just want it over and done with. I can cope with people hating it (I think), but it’s the not knowing that kills me.
I have a new, more serious web site now, dedicated purely to writery stuff where I shall probably call myself an author and postulate on all things grammatical. Want to take bets on how long that lasts? While I am very serious about my writing, I can’t take myself too seriously. My author profile on Amazon is the proof of that. I won’t be giving up on this site – how else would I be able to tell you stories about my mum? – but if you’d like to see what ‘serious Nettie’ looks like, head over to www.AnnetteSThomson.com before it all descends into fart jokes and poodles.
Leave a Reply