What's weird about being a writer

When you’re a writer, there are so many things that are just plain weird. Writers often talk about the emotional rollercoaster of publishing a book.

It is no joke.

For instance, you write a book. By yourself. (Fun, agonizing, lonely, and grueling. If you don’t have at least one existential crisis, you’re probably not doing it right.)

Then you start showing it to people. (Terrifying.)

The people you show it to (editors and beta readers) help you make it better. (Satisfying.)

You send it to ARC readers. (Scary.)

They (hopefully) give you positive reviews. (Exciting and satisfying and validating. Or heart-wrenching and self-doubt-inducing and the cause of another existential crisis or three.)

Then you do a huge marketing push, in which you need to be SUPER EXCITED for however long you have until the launch. Also, you’re using a completely different skill set than actually writing. (Exciting and fun, but also draining and scary.)

And then, launch day comes. And people (especially new writers) think it’s going to be this big deal, but usually… it’s not.

It’s like this huge anticlimax at the end of all that build-up, because all you can do is wait and see if all that work that got you to that point is paying off. Did other people catch your vision? Are they as excited to read your book as you are for them to read it?

Sometimes, even often, people are, but when you’re a small-pond author like me, even those excited people aren’t necessarily going to rush out and buy the book on launch day. (But some do. And to those of you who have—thank you!! It means so much!)

Writers waiting for sales on book launch day.

So, in unrelated news, Every Star that Shines released on Wednesday… :-D

Every Star that Shines (Peace Country Romance Book 1) is all about big feels and second chances in a small northern Alberta town.

I’ve been recording myself doing some readings from my books on TikTok. Last Friday, I read the first page of Every Star that Shines, so I thought I’d share it here, too:

As a bonus, I did another scene today, one of my favourites:

“Why is he sending me heart-eye emojis?” - Reading from Every Star that Shines

And in other other news, I celebrated my birthday on Wednesday, too. My oldest son, Jude, made whitefish and homemade hashbrowns (fish and chips) and a dark chocolate cake to celebrate. I’m gonna miss that kid’s cooking skills when he heads off to the army. (Not him. Just his cooking. ;-D)

And I’m looking forward to taking all of next week off. Mostly off. I’m très behind on drafting my next book, because I have a really hard time focusing on marketing one book and writing another one. So I’ll be writing next week, but other than that, I won’t be at my desk.

And maybe I won’t even do that at my desk, who knows?

I’m looking forward to some time on my deck, and in the garden, and on my couch reading, and hanging out with my family.

But don’t let me being on stay-cation deter you from picking up your copy of Every Star that Shines. Or, you know, any of my other books.

Just saying. :-)

Happy Friday!

Don’t mind me…