I Feel Like I'm Drowning

When I got serious about publishing, I knew I would probably not work hard to find an agent. Following the rules isn’t my thing. I do not like other people telling me what to do. Yes, there are good rules, but others are made to be broken. Plus, the amount of time it takes to find an agent, then find a traditional publisher, then go through everything required—I don’t have the patience at my age.

I pushed the envelope as a lawyer, almost getting myself thrown in jail several times for ignoring judges' orders when children were involved.1 Then, as a landlord, I was always doing things differently as I tried to make my vacation apartments something families wanted to return to again and again, even if it wasn’t something typically done in my area. And now as an author, I’m pushing the box filled to the brim with digital boulders up a hill as rapidly as possible, again trying to do it my way.2

But there’s just too much to do. And a gazillion opinions about how every little step of the process is to be done. How does a new author know who in this world of writing to trust? And what is the correct method? And how in the world can marketing make sense?

My usual writing schedule has been shredded, especially since I’m a month behind on everything.3 This week’s to-do list includes listening to or watching videos from Author Nation and listening to various self-publishing materials while also learning Dave at Kindlepreneur’s instructions for keywords, Amazon categories, and a dozen other things. All this while keeping up with my marketing person’s (actually very exciting)4 requests for story summaries, representative photos, location details—you get the picture.

It’s all coming together. Having an actual marketing person take half the load off has made a big difference. I gave myself one full year to learn and execute marketing, and I failed miserably. I’ve always admired author Kimberly Brock for her patience, drive, and unbelievable ability to create beautiful marketing materials from nothing. And now, finally, I have her reasonable facsimile to help me get all this done.

My respect for has increased one-hundred fold in the last few months. This man is prolific and helps writers every step of the way. Listening to his podcasts has made me understand things about self-publishing that until then did not make sense. My hat is definitely off to him.

My other online mentor is . I met her in person years ago at a publishing conference held in Charleston, SC, held unfortunately, only that one time. It was a terrific conference, and Joanna lit something in me that has never been extinguished even with all the editing, critiquing, and mortification of having others read your materials. I remember her describing how she believes we would eventually buy books in a virtual bookstore. Her vivid descriptions were something straight out of a special effects department. I think about it regularly and one day I will push that digital envelope and create that bookstore.

I usually travel locally when I’m not out of the country. Instead, I’m in Miami, working myself into a frenzy before the publication date in May, even though I have a half-dozen places I want to visit and write about in South Florida. My first trip to give myself a break will be at the end of this month, and if you can’t tell, I’m ready to get on a plane.

So with this post, I’m looking for shortcuts, moral support, names of self-published writers who know what they are talking about, and anything or anyone else you think might be helpful to get me through the next few insane months. (If you comment back something along the lines of “what’s the big deal,” don’t.)

So instead of having a third child, I’m publishing a book.

I promise you, it’s just as painful.

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