My New Novel Just Published-Why I’m Freaking Out

My new novel just published and now I’m freaking out.

Marketing. Book selling. NetGalley. BookSirens. Double down on Twitter. No, make that X. Send out ARCs to readers. Book bloggers. Book tour bloggers. Tell people about my new novel. Tell more people. Spread the news on Facebook without totally annoying people. Create marketing visuals.

Oh, did I tell you I my new book came out the day after Christmas? That’s why all this marketing hubbub. All the publicity and worry lines and wrinkles and anxiety.

The name of my new novel is Cruel & Bitter Things, Book 1.

Thank the people who wrote great blurbs and penned advance book reviews. Convince myself I’m not a fraud and imposter but a real writer. Go to the post office and send out ARCs of wonderful new book. Tell the postal office that there are books inside the Manila envelope, while fighting the urge to tell them that they are my books. The books I wrote. Then I jokingly tell him I’m a novelist, but he grimaces and asks me for $19.80, and if I want any stamps.

Return home. Schedule podcast appearances. Call bookstores to make sure they carry my book. Read existing reviews of my novel and realize there are some errors and inconsistencies that made it through to the ARC. Damn. Make notes to fix errors before they appear in the final version. Keep track of email addresses to put into my mailing list—which I have yet to set up.

Sit down. Take a deep breath. Try to ignore the pain in my chest. Tell myself not to have an anxiety attack over the first world problem of being an author. Worry about the bad reviews that will come with publishing a novel (there are always bad reviews) and bad sales (there are always bad sales). Call my therapist and set up a session. Take some anti anxiety meds. Grab a box of tissues in the event I feel a tear coming.

Shit! I forgot I the blog post I have to write by mid morning. For Maine Crime Writers! That damn Kate Flora never stops with the reminding emails, although I loved her last novel. Stop thinking about marketing my book and think about what I’m going to write about in blog. Sip coffee and consider various topics, but dismiss each one. Procrastinate. Go into the kitchen and stare into the fridge for the nth time. Grab something to nosh on and head back to the desk to write. Hopefully, whoever reads this won’t think I’m a moron, but that’s near impossible.

Check the reviews on NetGalley and realize that my best review has been taken down by the reviewer who wrote it. Curse! Jump out and down. Tear out the three remaining hairs on my head. Spend the next three hours trying to track down this reviewer and demand to know why she has taken down such a such a superfluous review. Did I offend her? Did she go back and realize she hated my book,  it loved it? Just my luck. Grab a tissue and have a good cry.

Feeling better now. Until I glance at the orders on Amazon. Another quick crying spell. See that it’s near bedtime and hit the hay. Have nightmares about publishing this new novel.

Wake up.

It’s a new day in .

Do the above all over again. Except writing the blog.

Check out the first book in my new series, Cruel & Bitter Things, Book 1.