Insecure Writers and a Cute Boy
>>>If you're here for the Blog Blitz, stop #2 is at Jennifer Lane Books Blog<<<>>>Meet David and choose his 1980s doppelganger.<<<
Welcome Insecure Writers! What a brilliant idea Alex had, eh? You'd think insecurity would end the moment a writer's manuscript gets accepted for publication, wouldn't you? But no, as it turns out, it merely opens up the gate for a whole new slew of them.
The highest post-publication insecurity for me has been self-promotion. Everything about it is just so diametrically opposed to my natural grain. What I've found is that I can't do it...or at least I can't tell myself I'm doing it. Rather than thinking of it as as "Buy my book, buy my book, buy my book" I have to think of it as "Hey, you might enjoy this." I mean, I wrote the thing because I wanted to read it, so maybe someone else will like it too, right? And if I don't tell them about it, who else will?
But the thing is, writers can't do it all by themselves, which brings me to insecurity #2---Asking for help. I've got a couple cool things happening with my book this month and wanted to make my best effort to spread the word, so I had to scrunch up that part of me that just haaates to impose on anyone else and shove it into a corner. I put on my big girl pants and asked other bloggers for guest spots at their places.
And do you know what? The reception was warm and wonderful and enthusiastic! The Blog Blitz list on my sidebar is evidence of that (any names look familiar? ;)). So that's my advice---when you need help, set your insecurities aside and just ask. The worst that can happen is someone says no, and I think you'll be surprised by how infrequently that happens.
And now, to prove to you how comfortable I've become with the not self-promotion, I think you might enjoy looking at some pics of cute 80s boys...go on, go on...
Welcome Insecure Writers! What a brilliant idea Alex had, eh? You'd think insecurity would end the moment a writer's manuscript gets accepted for publication, wouldn't you? But no, as it turns out, it merely opens up the gate for a whole new slew of them. The highest post-publication insecurity for me has been self-promotion. Everything about it is just so diametrically opposed to my natural grain. What I've found is that I can't do it...or at least I can't tell myself I'm doing it. Rather than thinking of it as as "Buy my book, buy my book, buy my book" I have to think of it as "Hey, you might enjoy this." I mean, I wrote the thing because I wanted to read it, so maybe someone else will like it too, right? And if I don't tell them about it, who else will?
But the thing is, writers can't do it all by themselves, which brings me to insecurity #2---Asking for help. I've got a couple cool things happening with my book this month and wanted to make my best effort to spread the word, so I had to scrunch up that part of me that just haaates to impose on anyone else and shove it into a corner. I put on my big girl pants and asked other bloggers for guest spots at their places.
And do you know what? The reception was warm and wonderful and enthusiastic! The Blog Blitz list on my sidebar is evidence of that (any names look familiar? ;)). So that's my advice---when you need help, set your insecurities aside and just ask. The worst that can happen is someone says no, and I think you'll be surprised by how infrequently that happens.
And now, to prove to you how comfortable I've become with the not self-promotion, I think you might enjoy looking at some pics of cute 80s boys...go on, go on...
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