How I Celebrate The End #MFRWauthor #BlogHop

Hello!

It's Friday the 13th, y'all!

I don't want to 'jinx' myself, but I tend to have good Friday the 13ths and not bad or clutzy ones.

Anyway...

Welcome to Week 15 of the 2018 MFRW Author Blog Challenge, where each week we are asked to discuss a topic, (usually) pertaining to our career choice, which is Writing.

This week's topic is: How I Celebrate Completing My Manuscript

Before I begin, let me just say that I am fully aware of the fact that my total honesty when answering these challenge questions will never win me any Popularity Contests.

I'm okay with it, though.

As a self-proclaimed Superficial Person who hates that fact about herself, when it comes to this PERSONAL blog that people are likely to read, I've long-ago decided that this is MY space, like it or not.

And, by Superficial, I just mean that in-person situations are always uncomfortable for me BECAUSE I am too superficial.

I tend to smile too much, go with the flow, try too hard to please, and say a whole lot of pat-response things simply to placate the recipient and avoid any conflict.

"Make them feel comfortable so I will, too" ??? kind of thinking that never has and never will work.

And, because I'm always anxious in public BECAUSE I have this awkward tendency, it's much harder to overcome than it probably seems to all of you.

HERE is where I've allowed myself to be Me.

Anyway, here's my short-list response to this week's challenge question.

When I get to THE END, I physically and mentally collapse.

No lie.

Editing is the hardest bit of work anyone can want to do, much less do with any amount of good intention, and yet us authors do it at least once a year and are thankful!

After typing THE END, we have to go back and hunt/peck, re-read for the millionth time, do some jostling, rewording, and sometimes serious murder to our work, all in the name of true love and transparent honesty.

It comes with the job.

And, it's as backbreaking a job as brick layers or roofers sometimes... not to get too crazy in the metaphorically speaking department.

I actually look more forward to STARTING a manuscript than I do finishing one.

By the time I'm ready to publish, I've already been concentrating a bit more on THE NEXT manuscript and can't WAIT to start that one!

But, that's not the Topic Challenge, so let's get back to that Honesty thing, shall we?

By the way, and I may be wrong, but the word MANUSCRIPT (to me) means completed work... fully edited, scrutinized, and 99.9% ready for publication.

So, with that in mind...

While writing Sing to Me, it was with the terrifying purpose of actually sending it out to the world for the first time EVER.

I was pushing 50 and overly worried that I had approximately two years left to live, so I just HAD to give publishing a Romance novel a try!

I had already spent a few years deeply into the Social Media thing, having become fully entrenched in a few popular Groups on Facebook, kept going through BETA readers, and nearly Pro at re-tweeting.

I'd made some friends, or so I thought.

I participated in their Blog Hops and Social Media Blitz packages and attended a whole host of Release Parties, not to mention my always taking the time to create the perfect Release Day post for my blog (Wordpress at that time).

Everyone knew I was a budding author but remained encouraging and always seemed available for helpful advice.

Well...

When the day finally arrived for ME to announce the Release of MY debut novel, and after I'd let everyone know it was coming...

nothing happened.

I'd set myself up (yet, again) for one of the BIGGEST let-downs of my entire life.

I was as excited as I was terrified, but the last thing on my mind was thinking that NO ONE would help me to promote.

I remember sending that Tweet out and then hurrying over to Facebook to do the same thing, complete with all of the bells & whistles that I'd learned from them.

It was the most exciting few minutes of my entire life, and then it became the most humiliating, sad, and disappointing.

Not a single LIKE or SHARE or HEART click on either post!

Not even a single "Congratulations!" message under the Release Day promo with that beautiful cover and links to the book.

NOTHING.

NO ONE from those Writing Romance communities reached out to do a single thing to help me promote, and that is something I will never, ever forget.

To say I was heartbroken is putting it mildly, but I did learn from yet, another, people-mingling mistake.

So, now you know why I secretly HATE people, don't trust anyone, and have such a hard time being myself around them in public.

If I did do that (Wanda Sykes without the humor?) and be myself LIVE, it would be even less pretty.

I know that I'm hyper-extending kindness because it is what I so desperately want from them at any level.

In all my life, it hasn't and never will happen, and at the ripe old age of 48, I had finally admitted to myself that I can't and won't ever expect it to, either.

It is my responsibility and no one else's, and I get that now.

I've resigned myself to the honest and real fact that I am writing for the sheer pleasure of writing and nothing more.

Until I get my hands on enough money to Market myself, it will never happen otherwise.

So, no, I don't pop the Champagne bottle, get on the phone, gather all my "friends", and book a night at some male strip club to help celebrate my "success".

(although you can bet I would celebrate that way if I had any friends or the slightest amount of success!)

Nor do I ask any of the so-called Social Media "friends" or post to any of the Help and Support groups on FB or Twitter for their "We're here to help Promote" motto yet don't really do that.

When the doom/gloom faded, the wake-up call sunk in, and I was back to somewhat Normal again, I culled the FB Groups and the people I'd especially hoped would be supportive and walked away from all things Social Media for a few months.

Until the need to help others sprang back to the surface and I started reading, liking, sharing, and re-tweeting for others again.

I still attend their FB Parties, add their HTML to my blog when Their Day arrives, I still say Yes when they ask me to BETA read for them or leave a review for them, and I still hope, with all my heart, that they continue to gain ground and go somewhere I'll never likely end up.

As I said earlier, it's in me to do that, so it can't be helped.

Two Years Later, when it was time for me to publish Love Over Time, I told myself not to dare set myself up for another painful let-down.

I created my Release Day package, posted them on Twitter and Facebook, made a pretty Blog post, and walked away.

The same thing happened, of course.

But I no longer cared (as much) that no one noticed, Liked, Shared, Re-tweeted, or congratulated me.

To my mind, it was out there and that was good enough for me.

I do it for myself despite its not having an impact.

And, I do care that no one helps the way I do.

It still hurts to know this is my fate, but I didn't care nearly as much as I had that first time, when I got the wind knocked out of me by that blatant and massively painful IGNORE incident.

If I feel like it, I celebrate This Puppy is Done by pouring myself a glass of wine and watching my favorite movie or TV show and that's about it.

Filling up the gas tank and going for a long drive down some new road I've never traveled is another.

I'm a dedicated writer, not a professional author, and I know it, so there is no Celebratory reason for my existence, much less having finished an 80,000 word novel.

I accept it.

I just keep writing and publishing, and since my oddly unrealistic prediction that age-50-means-death has passed, I don't worry too much about dying before making it big, either.

LOL

Am I still allowed to hold out hope that it just, might happen?

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading my post!

Please scroll down to the LinkyLink tool and click on the next in line to find out what How They Celebrate Completing Their Manuscript.

Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. To help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose, Marketing for Romance Writers is announcing the 2018 Blog Challenge. Each week, authors use our writing prompt to create a meaningful blog post. We'll be posting every Friday... join us as often as possible.
All authors with blogs are welcome to participate.