If we don’t count today, I’m T-Minus 5 days to publication of my first novel.
I’m trying to play it cool, but I’m shrieking with glee inside a little bit. It’s been a long time coming, first of all. But second of all, it’s going to be so nice to be able to call myself a novelist and have it be a true thing.
I’m going to credit the baby for finally getting my act together. It was so easy previously to dither about whether or not it was good enough, to think about how badly I’d feel if I didn’t sell any copies, to wonder if self-publishing would kill my career before it even started, to agonize over whether to find an agent.
From everything I’ve learned about the publishing industry lately, though, self-publishing seems to be the way to go for a quietly sweet novel that probably won’t ever be Harry Potter scale. I queried my dream agent (because you never know), and then moved on. I don’t need to have a huge readership. I just need the right readership.
Becoming a mother and being on call 24/7 for baby duties as well as taking on a full time load at school has given me no time to think about anything. I just have to do or do not these days. In the three seconds I had between classes, I mocked up some covers. In the single afternoon I was able to scrape together, I formatted the manuscript. I didn’t have time to wonder whether or not this was right, or if I was brave enough, or if I was legit enough. I did. End of story.
Except that for you, it’s the beginning of the story. Blue Gentian will be free next Wednesday, and I’d love it if you’d take a read.
As is written on the bottom of my query letter, Blue Gentian is my first novel. I’m hard at work on my second.
Casey E. Hamilton 