This Whole Publishing Process

...Is that what they're calling it? I feel like it's a hiking trip gone bad - you've prepared, prepared and prepared, and something doesn't work like it should. So I'd like to talk about it because I'll be the first to admit, the publishing side of things doesn't have me concerned, it's the marketing.

I'm a writer but that doesn't make me anti-marketing. I'd love to learn about it, if I had the time. Except I'm doing everything else and it seems that doing everything makes me increasingly more frustrated as time goes on. Why? Because there's never been enough time.

My first novel doesn't debut until June 30th. That should seem like enough, you say. I feel like it could be plenty as well, but once I think about school, SATs, my horse, exercise, friends and maintaining some sort of social life, the fantastical number is immediately halved. Then I'm working on the marketing enigma in the time that I spend doing other things. I'm always brainstorming ideas, always trying to think of creative ways to get people involved. I worry, having not the experience I should, nor the following that other authors have. I need both and they only come with time.

Whether this attempt can be called humorous or not, I am trying. I want so many people to have the opportunity to read my story and love it like I do, that I'm willing to go to extreme limits to make it available. I'm trying to find the interested readers in this online world, but it's like finding a needle in a haystack. Maybe they will come because I've tried like an idiot in a million different, embarrassing ways. Maybe they won't. Either way, we'll know in time.