Grounding and Moving On

My eyes were sore and my brain needed a rest. I thought writing my book was intense, and it was, but getting my book published, to my surprise, is also intense. My publisher, Friesen Press, has an awesome system for getting its authors up to speed by coaxing information out of them in order to produce a professional book. Just because I've spent the last two years in the depths of that book writing, editing, rearranging, slashing, and rewriting, doesn't mean it's ready for the reader. That's what editors do, and I have wonderful editors.

There were a lot of great questions to answer like "Why did you want to write THIS book? What are your book's main themes?" The question that surprised me was "What needs does your book satisfy in the market?" I hadn't thought about my book's market. Doesn't everyone want to connect with their soul, love themselves, and know their self-worth? Well, maybe there are some who don't want that.

As I dove into the publishing process, all sorts of fears surfaced again about whether my book was good enough and whether the subject matter would be as useful and inspiring as I wanted it to be. I expect that's normal for first time authors. There's also the finality of publishing. I've edited and changed so much, agonized over countless synonyms. I've searched my past for just the right metaphors that would illuminate my story. All that will stop in a few short months when the final changes are made, and it's daunting.

Grounding is a practice I've developed over the years whether I was aware of it or not. READ MORE