“Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile initially scared me to death.” — Betty Bender

“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” — John Wayne

I’ve never been frightened by the writing process, but presenting my work to the masses was terrifying.  All sorts of questions went through my mind…Was the novel good enough for publishing? Would the readers enjoy it? Would I ever find an agent or publisher? How would I get the word out?  Would I be able to write another novel? Would anyone care?

Instead of dwelling on the fear of failure I kept plugging along, editing, querying, writing and editing some more.  I spent time learning about agents and publishers, attending conferences, networking with other authors and talking about the story.  When it was finished and I didn’t have an agent I was afraid it would never be published. I didn’t want to self-publish, even though I know successful authors who have, I wanted to do it the old fashioned way.  So, I pulled up my big girl panties and started querying small independent publishers.  (I hear there are about 500 out there, I only queried 5 before I found a winner in Five Star, a Division of Gale/Cengage Learning.)

With contract in hand I set out to finish the second novel I had started after finishing Feisty Family Values. I had no intention of writing a sequel, but the characters weren’t done telling their stories so Patchwork Family grew.  I had the first draft of Patchwork finished when Feisty was released in bookstores (Feb. 2010).

The next step was marketing and promoting, speaking and selling. The first reading & signing I held was at Watermark Books (they rock!). My palms were sweaty, cold sweat trickled down my back, my hands shook, but it went really well.  There were about twenty of my family and friends there, and a couple of people I didn’t know showed up, too.  Why was I scared? Who knows, but once I got started reading and talking about the characters and the story the fear went away.

I’m getting ready for round two, Patchwork Family is just about polished. I need to write a synopsis and start querying again, so it, too can find a publishing home. I would really like to have an agent this time, it would be worth 15% to help me with the whole process, so I can reach even higher than I have already.  Am I still scared? Sure. Will I do it anyway? ABSOLUTELY. Wouldn’t you?

(Something else to remember, when your work gets rejected, which it inevitably will: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” There’s nothing wrong with making a lot of lemonade. It’ll hold us over until we DO find the right agent or publisher.)