The ticking clock

My novel Amiga will be published by Black Rose Writing on November 27, 2019. I will describe my publishing journey in a series of posts. This is the fourth of this series.

In fiction, we talking about the ticking clock — a goal, deadline, or looming danger that drives the protagonist to solve a problem. Writers too have ticking clocks. Amiga is now six months from publication.

The revised manuscript is in the publisher’s editing queue, but that doesn’t mean my work is done. I expect edits, and I appreciate them. As I told Reagan Rothe, the creator of Black Rose Writing, “Content quality is important, and I want to take the time to produce the best possible book.” I’ve also started my promotional efforts. I’m contacting bookstores for signings, publications for reviews, other authors for blurbs, and YouTube channels for video interviews. My first video after Amiga‘s acquisition came out today on Matt Whiteside’s Uniweb Productions Interview show. Check it out below.

But my biggest question is, “Am I ready?”

Promoting this book will require considerable physical and emotional energy. When you put yourself out in the public eye, you make yourself vulnerable. You have to be ready for criticism, one-star reviews, and verbal and online attacks. I’m taking some risks in writing this novel and stretching myself in ways I haven’t before. Unlike self-publishing, I have to deliver for a publisher and give the results that would encourage them to keep working with me. And I have to do all that while taking care of my responsibilities at work and home.

When I set my goals for 2019, one of them is to improve my physical health. Physical health also builds our emotional health by boosting our energy and self-confidence, giving us discipline and focus, and pushing us beyond our limits. I need to develop the physical and emotional strength to take on the challenge of producing and promoting this book.

I’ve dealt with deadlines throughout my professional life. Many of them made whooshing sounds. Amiga won’t. When November 27 comes, I must make sure that the author is ready along with the book.