Stop Making Excuses; Start Publishing

Clare C. Marshall grew up in rural Nova Scotia with very little television and dial up internet, and yet, she turned out okay. She has a combined honours degree in journalism and psychology from the University of King’s College, and is a graduate from Humber College’s Creative Book Publishing Program. She is a full-time freelance editor, book designer, and web manager. She has been publishing books since 2011. When she’s not writing, she enjoys playing the fiddle and making silly noises at cats.Today, she is guest posting at Anxiety Ink!

Clare’s Post:

I have never not been a writer, and writing hundreds of thousands of words doesn’t scare me.

I guess publishing my own books never really scared me either. Probably my greatest publishing-related fear before I started publishing was that my books would not be well received; that people would consider them non-books and not recognize the work and time I have put into them.

Now that I’ve published four books, and proven that I can produce a good product, the actual act of bringing a book into the world is not scary at all. It’s still lots of work, to be sure. Most of my anxiety now, three years into Faery Ink Press seriously existing as a publisher, revolves around other undertakings done in her name. Like organizing and carrying out a crowdfunding campaign for my upcoming book, The Silver Spear.

But how did I overcome my fear of publishing–of making waves in the publishing community?

Usually the excitement of the project outweighs the fear of jumping into the deep end. At least, at first.

Sometimes we’re afraid to do the thing we want to do the most, and we put it up on a pedestal. We make excuses about why it’s up there: It’s not the right time, I don’t have all my research done, It’s not ready for the world to see, I haven’t worked on it in a while and it probably sucks. If you find yourself making these excuses over and over to yourself, that’s your mind trying to tell you to get off your butt and make something happen.

Here’s the pep talk I give myself when my nerves try to get the better of me:

It’s not the right time.

When is the right time? Sure, trends come and go. Especially in the book world. But trends can be circular. Missing the vampire craze is not the end of the world–there are readers out there who will like vampires for the rest of their lives. You will just have to work a little harder to find them.

We only live for 80-100 years. Do you want to be the person on their deathbed regretting you never gave your publishing dream a shot? I sure don’t. What if you died next week? What are you leaving behind that represents you? The right time to publish is now.

I don’t have all my research done.

Why the hell not? Probably because you’re too busy fantasizing about being a rich and famous author, right? Step one: sit yourself down at the computer. Step two: open your internet browser. Step three: Google what you want to know and read everything you can get your paws on. Step four: Rinse and repeat until you feel the information soaking into your soul and you feel confident enough to continue.

It’s not ready for the world to see.

Why, and according to whom? Maybe your work needs another editing pass, fine. But it probably doesn’t need ten, unless your writing is truly messy and untested.

Did someone tell you your work was bad? What do they know–are they experts? If not, ignore and plow through. If they are–what is their advice, and does it ring true? Make changes and then plow through.

I haven’t worked on it in a while and it probably sucks.

Putting time between you and the project can sometimes give you a fresh perspective. However the more time you put between you and your project, the harder it is to return to that project. The fear begins to return. I haven’t worked on it, how can I work on it now when I haven’t in so long?

Baby steps. I like to return to a project late at night, when I’m alone. I open the document and read through it, assuring myself that I don’t have to work on it much tonight, I’m just going over it. This small step is usually enough to bridge the gap between the timid girl inside me who is afraid to jump back into the fray. Ideas usually come to me late at night in the safety of the dark and the quiet, and the excitement I once felt for the project flows back into my spirit once more.

Any kind of project can be difficult. You’re not going to wake up one day and have “made it.” There is no magical movie montage that will take you from point A to point B. You have to be awake and aware for each pinpoint of existence between points A and B. Excruciating, isn’t it? It can be. If you allow your fears and doubts to control you. If you forget why you wanted to achieve your dreams in the first place.

If you’ve ever had any of the above excuses, give yourself my pep talk. Because every day you put off realizing your publishing dream because of fear is another victory for the fear within you. You don’t want fear to win, do you?

I sure don’t.

So stop making excuses.

Just dive in.

Click to take a look at Clare’s crowdfunding campaign!

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