Panic time on the publishing front

So it’s Tuesday morning and I’m having misgivings about publishing. I don’t know if I’m doing it right because I’m not putting up advance reader copies (unless you’d like to read and review), I don’t know if it’s any good because it’s not as complex or serious as other things I write, I just don’t know …

But here I am, on the verge of submitting my materials to Kindle Direct Publishing. The cover I made myself, the layouts I’ve worked on, the words that hopefully are important.

What do I do? I’m panicking!

In the End, I’m Still a Writer.

I wake up at 5 AM US Central Standard Time every day — yes, I know that’s really, really early — so I have time for getting ready, and eating breakfast, and prepping for the day at work — and writing.

Yes, that’s how much writing has become a part of my life. It’s like a dysfunctional boyfriend. Writing flirts, it teases, it demands my attention on its schedule, and when I need it to be there for me, it flees, taking my ideas with me. Still, I can’t break up with writing, because it fascinates me. I sit at the coffeehouse and hope that writing will show up for me.

On the flipside, my imagination may be the chaos that writing seeks to tame. I, and my passions, may well be that muse that challenges me at coffee (“Tell me who you think I am”), who I have personified as an incarnation of Pan, all intensity and chaos, joy and panic, abandon of all things sensible. (I’ll admit this is disappointing in a way, because Pan is sexy as hell.)

I am the storm; I am the storm’s eye.

For this reason, I have to write.

Thank you for listening.

PS: Tis the Season to Have Writing Woes

I am less than 30,000 words away from a rough draft of a novel, and NOW I’m struggling to write.

Yes, I’ve said that before and I’ve gotten over it. I still want to talk about it.

It’s the most stressful time of the year:

Fall semester ends soon, and do you know what that means? End of semester projects in three classes! Final exams! Finalizing grades!

Stressed-out students! Stressed-out professors! Stressed-out people driving cars!

My house has become Christmas Music Central! (All I Want for Christmas is Yoooooooo!)

What should I get Richard for Christmas?

Am I doing Christmas right???

So with all of this on mind (and more), I sit down with my work in progress and say “OMG I know I’m not doing this right! I should have done more of this, that, and the other! It’s too long! It’s too short! It’s too complicated! It’s too simple! I haven’t even finished Prodigies!”

What to do?

1) Think about the book before I sleep. Some of my best plot ideas come from dreams.
2) Sit down during my usual allocated time (after I publish the blog in the mornings and before work) and GO FORWARD, not look back.
3) Drink coffee.