No Turning Back

Yesterday was a grueling day putting together my book materials and making sure they’re formatted right. Everything’s uploaded to KDP; there’s no turning back.

I could, if I wanted to, turn my back on it and not give it any publicity. I could do that. But I won’t. I will do the best I can on publicity, although this too scares me.

Publishing Kringle Conspiracy is an experiment, to see what goes well and what I could do better next time, if there is a next time. It’s a way of seeing whether this is a way I would want to go again.

At the moment, I feel more exhausted than excited, probably because I spent six hours on it yesterday. I need to work on the positives to keep going.

Wish me luck!

Odds and Ends

So, I spent a busy weekend getting writing things done. Finalizing my Pitch Wars packet, writing a piece of flash fiction for a contest, writing a little on a short story. And then last night, the silly little Chloe woke me up in the middle of the night licking my nose. Slurpslurpslurpslurpslurpslurp.

Morning comes, and I feel absolutely tuckered today, but it is Monday and time to go to work. I hope the coffee gets here soon. I really don’t know how to function without it today.

Coffee is with me now. Brazilian coffee, deep and chocolatey. I think I’ll live.

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I’m pretty much ready to submit the book to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) except for one thing — I don’t want it posted to Kindle right away. The official book drop is November 1st, just in time for the Christmas season. I don’t want it posted before then. I should ask KDP if they can hold off on posting the electronic copy before Nov. 1st. Otherwise, the timing is all nervewracking — I know it will take a couple days for them to process it, but if things go wrong it might take more. How will I time that to get the book out of the 1st? A frustrating conundrum.

I should put some well-thought-out emails today to the KDP people.

A lull — and jitters

I’m waiting for my favorite beta reader to react to my book. What she says will determine my final actions — do I put the book out this November or do I hold it back to show to a dev editor?

I’m pretty confident about the book not needing a dev editor, because I read through a number of times for flow, for sense, for proofreading.

No, I’m not confident, but I can’t afford a dev editor right now. I’m excited about putting it out. I haven’t had momentum like this in ages. In a perfect world, I’d have a quick and inexpensive dev editor. Maybe if I go through it one more time …

How do people go through all this publishing a book?

In the Flow

I’m happiest when I have something to work on, something that catches my fancy. When that happens, I can give it intense focus such that I float within the bubble of my attention and time flies by without me.

This, in the psychological literature, is called flow. Flow takes a person out of time and place, and becomes almost a type of meditation. It requires tasks that one is competent yet challenged in. Flow is good for creating happiness.

I’ve been creating book covers (both e-book and traditional) for The Kringle Conspiracy, which (depending on whether I feel it needs a dev edit) will be coming out in time for Santa. My favorite beta reader (Hi Sheri!) is on it, and my husband has already given it a good look through. Because it’s so short and so simple for something I write, it may be ready. In the meantime, the cover is ready.

So designing that cover gave me flow. What else gives me flow? Writing, at least in the drafting stage. Reading. Sometimes teaching, but not lately with all the equipment I have to sling around.

It’s important to have flow, to take one away from worries and stress (like COVID) and the like.

What are your flow activities?

Maybe not a Christmas Present

So I’m editing Kringle Conspiracy, a book I’d put in a drawer for two or three years. My natural pessimism is setting in, and I stew about whether it will be good enough to publish. On the schedule I’m on, I’m going to have to do without a dev edit, and I’m rather uneasy about that. On the other hand, it’s a pretty simple book.

The thing is, I want to get it online in time for the Christmas season, which means October. I don’t think anyone can dev edit in a week, giving me two weeks to fix. I could save it for next Christmas and get a dev edit, which would be the great thing to do if I were patient. I’m working on being patient.

I’ll let you know. I’ll do this rewrite and let it sit for a bit, then decide if I need to hold back for a dev editor. So maybe you won’t see this by Christmas.