March 28, 2013

I feel like an idiotic college student on a Spring Break drinking binge.  Except that I'm staying up far too late writing, not downing shots of Jagermeister.  By the time this "vacation" is done and I need to head back to my day job, I'm going to need another vacation to catch up on sleep.

I have been losing sleep in favor of immersing myself in writing INNER MOONLIGHT, a contemporary romance about a young woman who cultivates a life around her image as the perfect wife and is forced to re-discover herself when her husband is killed in an accident.  I expect to have it released no later than June 1, but I am pushing to have it done by May 1 instead.  My biggest challenge at the moment is finding balance between all of the social networking and promoting of my first book, BONDS OF MATRIMONY.  The analytical side has me thinking I should write up a schedule with a 4:1 ratio of time spent writing to networking.  Sadly, I'm not kidding.

The bottom line is that I'm suddenly driven to get this book done.  I have always felt the passion for writing and the adrenaline rush of the creative juices.  But I have never been terribly driven to finish and submit manuscripts.  It doesn't take a psychoanalyst to recognize that my fear of rejection kept me from really putting myself out there.  The self-publishing gig has really turned that around.

So after 15 minutes of blogging, I'm off to hit the writing for an hour...if I don't pass out before then.

March 19, 2013

From the time I was eleven, I have loved writing stories.  Initially, I wrote for my own pleasure.  Then in a moment of brilliance, I found a number of publishers' addresses on the copyright pages of my favorite books and I sent them letters asking about the publishing process.  I was thirteen at the time and the internet did not exist.  To this day, I still have the two responses I received, one from Harper Collins and one from Little, Brown and Co.

I have always felt that the ultimate form of validation was to get the nod from a top notch agent and a major publishing house.  Nevertheless, my fear of rejection kept me from submitting any of my manuscripts until seven years ago.  Since then, I have worked diligently to develop a plot for a historical romance.  I researched like I haven't researched since college.  I wrote and submitted and shrugged off the rejections.  I re-wrote and submitted to new agents, and shrugged off more rejections.  Within the last seven months, I received more encouragement from a handful of agents than I have in the lase seven years.  And yet, I now find myself swimming in the vast sea of indie writers.

I promised myself that I would not take the easy way out.  I was convinced that self publishing was somehow less dignified than being an "official" writer with representation and a big check from a big publishing house.

And then I decided that I wanted to put myself out there.  I wanted others to read my work.  The bottom line is that I want to be a writer.  I want to entertain readers.

Now that I am officially self-published, I realize that it isn't easy at all.  It's kind of kicking my ass.  I come home from work and check all of my social networking sites.  I feel a need to tweet and blog and sit staring at a blank screen.  What do I write?  I'm trying to market my first book on KDP, not give the world an update on my Chutes and Ladders victory or my continued struggles in the kitchen.  In the last week, I've sold nine books, and I've done a little jig o' joy for each and every one of them.  I have written six pages for my new book but have spent three hours each night networking and trying to market BONDS OF A MATRIMONY.

I definitely do not subscribe to the Us-Against-Them mentality when it comes to agents and publishers.  But I must say that I love having control over my sales.  I love listening to feedback from readers and having the option of making revisions to my novel.  The thrill I get from logging in and checking my total sales can totally make my day.  And the pride I take in being able to manage a website, a blog, and multiple social networking sites truly does make all the hours worth it.  And on top of it all, I get to create my own world with my own protagonists and villains and love interests.  This truly is spectacular!

You Know You're an Indie Author When...

It is the middle of the night, I have a child who will be waking in a few mere hours, and I am creating and updating my social networking sites for my new book.  So this is what it's like to be an indie author.  When I was young and dreamed of being a writer, I had this image of spending my days on the beach writing, and then I'd have my evenings free to focus on my family.  And the money would be spectacular!  The reality looks a bit different.  I work all day, try to focus on my family and house chores in the evening, squeeze in some writing before bed, and spend my weekends using social networking to market my new book.  And the money...well...I think I can take my royalties and buy myself a latte.  But it's early and I'm still hopeful.

If you're interested in checking out my first release, you can go to my website at www.carriganfox.com or go directly to Amazon to purchase Bonds of Matrimony, a historical romance about a budding feminist.