…now I have to market it????

Blog #2

I wrote the damn thing and now I have to market it? For fucksake. I know, I’m not the first author to utter those words. But here we are…and I need to wrap my head around it.

Don’t get me wrong—I love my book. I think if people knew about it, they’d want to read it.

So here we go—a mental reset in real time. Come along with me.

This is waaaay outside of my comfort zone, but nobody will ever find my book if it just sits on my coffee table. And if I have to market it, I may as well enjoy it. And the way to do that is to make it my own. I can watch a thousand YouTube videos on the “right way” to do it, but none of those ways are me. Am I stupid for not just following a formula? Well, we’ll find out because if I’m going to put my voice out there it seems like it should be authentically mine. I’ve spent too long wearing a facade that didn’t fit. I’m done with it. I wrote this book because I needed to examine emotions that were roiling inside of me. I didn’t write it to meet the tropes or some market niche that was underserved—though I get why authors do…and have great success with it. That is just not me.

So here it is, blue ribbon or participation trophy, I will not bend my authentic voice. I will do my best to learn from others and make it my own. I will carry my enthusiasm about the whole birthing-a-book process along with me. And if my energy flags or I doubt myself, I’ll come back here, to these pages, and write my way back to believing.

Hello, world ;-)

Blog #1

Here it is: the website (that was a rock fight to build) exposing all my creative bits to the world. Let me tell you, it’s been a thing to get here. 

There have been stops and starts—often with years in between. There’s been birth and divorce and death. There’s been a shit ton of doubt. And chocolate cake eaten while prone on the couch. But I’m here now.

Where’s here? Me in my right-sized skin, claiming my creativity and sending it out to be received however it is received. I’m not looking for validation, I’m seeking to do the one thing my soul has begged for: share my creativity with the world. 

What will become of it? Who knows. Does it matter? Not a whole bunch (oh, come on, we all know I want to make a splash). But the point is I’m doing it! 

And to anyone who feels the pull but has felt not creative enough, too tired, like you don’t have anything to say, that everything has already been said, yada yada yada…FUCK THAT!

Giving voice to what’s inside you is its own reward. And its own little engine. Give it two minutes a day, while lying flat on your back. Use your crowbar of desire to pry open the well of you. See where it takes you. Be afraid and sad and tired. Do it anyway. Let me know what you find.

Here’s a bonus poem that I wrote before that crowbar cracked open my creative well. I Am a Radio Station