Repeat After Me: I Got This

Well, I did it.

I finished the first draft of my third book. It took me a month. Mind you, I’ve been unemployed for nearly two weeks of it, but it’s done. It needs, like, *ridiculous* amounts of revisions but I know what’s going to happen now, which is better than only having the snippets of scenes in my head before. There’s an actual story line with conflicts and events and there’s an ending, guys. I have A LAST BOOK ENDING. It’s not very good, but it’s there. Ready to be tweaked and worked on all that stuff.

So… what to do now? This is the part that sucks—the in between part. The part where I have nothing specific to work on because the next sentence, scene and chapter has already been written. I don’t know if any other writers out there have this WTF do I do now? moment but it’s here for me and it sucks.

I’m still not sure when I’m going to release this first book, Better Than This. I’m thinking maybe… mid-May? June? I still need to have it professionally edited, along with getting a cover completed and some sort of advertisement/marketing plan needs to be in place.  THINGS. There are so many things needing to be done and that next step is all blurry and weird and not specific.

Anyone heard of Patreon? It’s this cool (kind of old) idea where people will become a patron of your work either on a monthly or creation basis. It’s a tiered structure where someone can pay a certain amount ($1/$5/$10/whatever) to support your work in exchange for different things like early access to new content, deleted or behind the scenes and such. It’s kind of an awesome idea. I keep peeking at it and wondering if/when/how I should join and what I would do. I also keep wondering how to work this angle while also marketing BTT in time for this questionable release. Again, THINGS. SO MANY THINGS.

Authors (and really anyone who has an opinion/suggestion) what is my next step here? Am I jumping off in the marketing quicksand or do I have to get the book edited first? And what about the cover? And what about blog tours and hard copies? And what about—

NOPE. Not going crazy like usual. I got this. I have to keep telling myself I got this or I won’t have this. I’ll have a headache and a drinking problem and neither of those are sexy. To me. (But, you know, to each their own.) I’m also job-hunting, so throw that on the pile along with whoever grabbed a hold of my email address and started applying for credit cards under my name. And the car is in the shop. And the IRS sent me a letter. SO MANY THINGS.

But it’s cool 😊 Life’s good. Just have to repeat my mantra:

I got this.

I got this.

I MOTHERFUCKING GOT THIS BITCH.

😉

P.S. This week’s theme is “Last Line” for Friday’s #Fridaykiss. I have no idea what I’ll be posting but I’ll figure it out. Know why? See above.

7 thoughts on “Repeat After Me: I Got This”

  1. Loni Townsend says:
    Reply

    YOU’VE GOT THIS! You’ll get it all done. I know it. 🙂

    I don’t have any suggestions with regards to marketing, but I know Misha Gerrick (Gericke) is on Patreon, so she could probably give you insights on what it’s like to work as an author there.

  2. Joleene Naylor says:
    Reply

    A lot of people say market while you’re writing but unless it’s a series with a built in audience waiting for the next book, I fin anything more than two months from release a waste of time. I’ve run into books that are six months out, with no preorder options, that look good, but in six months I forget they even exist. Unless the author has posted soooo much to remind us all that I am sick of it and would rather cut off my own foot than read it. Just my personal opinion there.

    Ha ha! I don’t really have that in between thing because I do so much rewriting that the book isn’t anywhere near done on the first write through. That’s when I start backtracking and throwing in all the scenes needed to make it cohesive, or to punch something up, or to cover some random plot hole…I am a bad first draft writer, let’s just say that.

    I have tried to think what to do with patreon, too. I thought about setting it up and when I start the Micah book this summer/fall putting it up in rough draft for people who pay through it, but I honestly don’t think I have any fans who would pay even a dollar a month for that, let alone more. They’d be more likely to wait until the book comes out and read the whole thing for 2.99 or whatever. I dunno. I have never managed to attract the rabid obsessive fangirls other writers get. Oh well. i also thought about exclusive shorts but I already have the street team and newsletter who “require” special rewards, and I don’t think I have time for that many exclusive stories…Now you don’t have those going on, so maybe you could use it for that? Just a thought.

    You can work on the cover while writing/editing if you want. I’ve gone both ways (waiting until it’s done vs at the same time), especially if you know what you want. And if you don’t, looking at ideas can sometimes be a nice break from editing when you feel stuck.

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