Getting Started

Would you just look at this big rectangle of white space. I've not seen anything so intimidating since I wrote the first paragraph of my first book. In here there is no editor, no friend to proof read, no grammar check. All my goofiness will pour right out for anyone to see, unedited by people with a more organized mind than myself. I've put this off for this very reason. But on my journey to market my book, I've read several articles telling me to blog. So, here I am...blogging. Blooooooggging. You know it sounds strange when you stretch it out like that. Like the sound my friend's cat makes in order to get her to jump up from the couch and run for the paper towels and Fabreze. And with that you see why this is a bad idea.
Let me start out by telling you about myself. My name is J. Kaye Draper. My readers, if I ever get any, may call me Kaye. Everyone that knows me personally knows that's not my real name. (Shhh...several articles say I'm not suppose to tell you my real name. I don't know why really. Maybe to keep fans from showing up on my lawn and demanding I feed them cookies.) I am enjoying the idea of having a pen name. I really did think about choosing something more glamorous, or mysterious. But it came down to the simple fact that I am just a simple person. I have a home, husband, and kids. They are all wonderful, and I don't say that because several articles told me to mention it in my biography. I say it because they make me laugh, they support me no matter what, and they make me feel surrounded by a fortress that no one can breach unless the drawbridge is lowered and permission is granted.
I work full time. I'm not allowed to say where. I guess the higher-ups freak out if you mention their company's name without written approval. I'm sure it has nothing to do with me being an embarrassment. I am responsible, professional, dependable: I am the quintessential bawdy old lady holding a management position. What could go wrong? (Don't ask me how many times I tried to spell "quintessential" before letting spell check take over. You will come to see that I'm a terrible speller. I can't hide it. I've tried.)
The Guardian is my first book. I love it. It's my baby. It took forever to write. Not because of the content though. Because of the many "Mom" interruptions. The boys were young, and when they saw me writing, it was as irresistible to them as a shut bathroom door is to a cat. They couldn't help themselves. They had to be in the middle of what I was doing. During editing, you could actually see those moments manifested in the story telling. (So much red pen fall-out! I have editing PTSD. No joke!)
It did, however, get finished. It's out there. The moment I clicked the button to publish on Amazon, all the PTSD, interruptions, spell check errors, and grammatical errors that even the Word program couldn't figure out how to fix came rushing to mind and I immediately felt like I'd gone to one of the boy's school functions without pants.
Now, I'm trying to market this "no pants" fashion trend I call The Guardian, by J. Kaye Draper. I'll have to tell you another time about the many adventures of Kaye and the Social Network of Doom, Kaye Links the World, and Kaye and the Terrible No Good Very Bad First Website.