Overwhelmed

And not in a good way.  I am stressing like whoa because I have all these great things in the works.  A contradictory statement, of course, but true.

I mean, I have my debut novel coming out in 2012, roughly 12-14 months from now, and honestly, it kind of has to be spectacular in order for me to go ahead and publish book #2 (of any kind).  And book number #2 has to be an incredible book in its own right, because well, there's that whole sophomore slump thing and I would really like to move on to book #3. Maybe–maybe?–once I hit book #3 I'll feel confident that I have some kind of "base" and people are actually "buying my books" or anything else I want to put in "air quotes".

Actually, I suppose those are actual quotes.

So I'm stressing about THAT.  And I'm stressing about the edits.  And I'm stressing trying to get onto this group and trying to figure out how to turn my page into an author page on Goodreads. I mean, just looking at some other debut 2012 authors on Goodreads—this girl Gretchen McNeil debuts at the end of this year and has 297 people who have either commented on or marked her book as to-read.  297!!!–and Megan Miranda, who is actually debuting on the same list as I am (which means the same pub company and the same time of year/means she must be incredibly awesome)–already has 37 people marking her book as to-read.  Props to her, but I'm kind of freaking out.

And then–THEN!–there's this whole, "Annie thinks she can organize an essay contest.  And a fundraiser.  Simultaneously" thing.

So yes, "take things one step at a time" and "one step starts the journey" and all that will never be my style. I like to pile it on, and broil in my own stress.

Eesh, I'm back to the real/air quotes.

Anyway, I am considering my self blessed that I'm going to be in the obviously talented 2k12/"apocalypsies" class (love that name, esp as my brothers keep telling me how sad it is that I'll only be a published author for a few months before the world ends), but you know what?  I'm going to buy an iPad and organize my life.

See what I did there?

xx