Guest post by Kat Sheridan for the Insecure Writers Support
Group (IWSG).
I published my Victorian romance novel, Echoes in Stone, on
a dare.
I finished it five years ago, but never published it. Maybe
I thought it wasn’t good enough. Maybe I was afraid of failure. Or success. I
picked at it, passed it through beta readers and a really good editor, and made
it as strong, as compelling as I knew how.
But still, I couldn’t bring myself to make that leap. To
share “my baby” with the world. What if I made a total fool of myself? I was
terrified of promotion. Of bad reviews. Of being found out as a fraud. Not a
writer.
I belong to a group of historical romance writers who meets
every three weeks for coffee, pastries, and goal setting. Every meeting I
dutifully set new goals for my work-in-progress, and wrote new pages, but was
never really finishing anything. Then one member of the group decided that
instead of allowing me to set my own goals, she would set one for me.
Publish something. Anything. She challenged me. She dared
me.
So I closed my eyes, screwed up my courage, called in favors from every friend I knew…
…and jumped.
One friend gave me a final edit. Another pointed me to a
great cover artist. Another offered to upload the book for free as a thank you
for past help I’d given her. Sia had me as a guest on her blog and lined up
others for me. Friends tweeted and shared and banged the drum for me.
Sales aren’t spectacular. It’s a debut novel by an unknown
author. But I’ve made sales. That very first, tiny little royalty check? It was
like winning the Golden Ticket to the Wonka factory.
Many years ago, Hubs talked me into going on one of those 3D
virtual rides in Las Vegas. I was utterly terrified and queasy even before
getting on the ride. My fears were echoed by a little boy in the same waiting
line, who kept chanting “Scary, scary, scary…” When the lights came up after
the ride, he jumped out of his seat and yelled “Do it again!” And I turned to
Hubs and yelled the same thing.
And that’s how I feel about the book I’m working on now.
That giddy feeling that comes only from putting your work out into the world,
no matter how much you want to throw up? Do it again!
Coming up Friday: Judi Fennell and her fun new series Manly Maids. You don’t want to miss this one!
Kat Sheridan is a former
project manager whose very serious exterior hides a secret romantic. She is
fond of books, bourbon, big words, coffee, and shiny things. Kat splits her
time between the Midwest in the summer and the South in the winter, sharing her
home with the love of her life and an exceedingly dignified Shih Tzu. She loves
to hear from readers, and can be contacted at www.KatSheridan.com.
