La Petite PTSD

I know writing is an art, tra la, but publishing a book is hard work. Exhausting, even. Emotionally draining.

There have been times in the past when I've been emotionally drained, like the time I was burglarized. Though we knew who'd done the job, we had no hard proof, so the police told me I'd never win in court. Instead I sat for over two weeks with my mouth hanging open, accomplishing nothing. Post-traumantic Stress Disorder, of the petite variety.

There've been vacations that have gone disastrously awry, unexpected expenses I had to bend over backwards to cover, etc., all of which were followed by me sitting in whatever La-Z-Boy I owned at the time with my mouth hanging open—for about a week at a time.

Well, ye mouth is hanging open now since the release of Ye Newe Booke, but I'm trying to get things done in the meantime. I'm reading through what's been done on the next one. It's eye-opening to see that there's no explanation of how the heroine got from Point A to Point C without going through Point B. But that can be fixed. That's what edits are for.

It helps that I've managed (how?) to get much yard work done. Sure, it should have been done by last Jan. 1, but it's getting there, which means I don't feel QUITE like I'm running just to keep in place. The house is a wreck, but it's Going. To get. Organized. It'll be a slow process, but I can now see it actually done at some future point. There are other goals that are being attained—one millimeter at a time.

According to The Artist's Way, one needs to replenish one's "creative well." I haven't been doing that, but I'm making an attempt to do so now. We'll see how it goes.

But publishing. Argh. This is why people get married, so they can get their husbands to do the dirty work. There's still a LOT of publicity needed, maybe a publicity agency that should be hired (anyone know of a good one?). I'll get to it. Eventually.

My mouth isn't hanging open quite so wide today.

I've made a FB ad that garnered a good amount of click-throughs. (Don't think it garnered any sales, though.) Lesson learned. And I've thrown the first, half-hearted contest celebrating the release of WORLDS APART, the latest volume in my superhero romance series. (Okay, from vol. 5 on I don't think anyone will classify it as a romance [especially RWA with their stringent definitions], so I'll be calling it a superhero adventure series.)

That contest had as its prize a $25 gift certificate to the place of the winner's choice. Let me set up a random-number generator now, get the list of eligible people together and numbered…

Annnndd…  BadWolf219 is our winner! I'll be firing an email off to you. May you enjoy whatever it is you buy from it! Hm, this is a commenter and not a newsletter person (the two ways one could enter the contest). Which reminds me: I haven't put out a newsletter about the new release yet. I've been using Barnes and Noble as an excuse. They haven't posted the print version on their site yet, growl growl. Maybe I'll contact CreateSpace and ask them what's going on.

Hope your lives are proceeding smoothly, your creative wells are brimming with fun, and that your mouths aren't attracting flies!