That’s an easy one.
In January 2020, I published my first book, a thriller and hard-boiled detective novel, Wounded Bride.
In doing so, I put myself out there. This website also does that, but publishing my first book wasn’t accomplished alone.
I wrote it in 2017 and sat on it for almost a year before I decided to try and get it published. I contacted FriesenPress, a company that provides assisted self-publishing services, and sent them the manuscript. I worked with an Editor, a Designer created the cover, and a Promotions Specialist coached me about marketing my book. Through it all, a Publishing Specialist made sure I knew how the process worked. Everyone was wonderful, and Michael and I are using FriesenPress to publish a children’s book, but having another person read my manuscript took me outside of my comfort zone.
Wounded Bride is now out there, and Readers might buy the book or download the eBook, write reviews of it, or send me feedback via my .
The next time I plan to leave my comfort zone is when I send our story about Monica and Brad for a Kirkus review. A professional reviewer will read it and write about what they thought of it.
Every time I check my notifications and see that I have a comment on a post, I leave my comfort zone until I read the comment and know what people are saying about my work.
To everyone who has posted friendly, thoughtful, and encouraging comments, thank you for restoring my comfort zone and for keeping me writing. It’s people like you who make blogging, writing, revising, publishing, and marketing worth every second outside the familiar place of my comfort zone.
Leave a Reply