There, And Back Again

My dears, I have climbed the mountain this week.

I chipped at the rock of Amazon Kindle, breaking off enough pieces to give me toeholds so I could start scaling the sheer cliff face.

I pored through the underbrush of Kobo, slithering into the hidden clearing, pushing my way through despite the thorns piercing my skin.

I was almost smothered by the dense, choking weeds of Nook, forced to take up my machete and slash the fronds that bound me whilst bellowing my battle cry.

I peered into the dark, mysterious caves of iBooks, finding my way through to the light on the other side guided only by a single candle and a good deal of cursing.

I forded the stream of All Romance eBooks, slipping on rocks whilst the racing water threatened to sweep me away.

Slowly, struggling, I climbed.  I pushed myself to the point of collapse (and I mean that literally).  But eventually I made it.  I got to the top of the mountain.  I planted my flag.

My book went up and is available as an ebook on all of the main stores, and some that aren’t so “main”.

Panting, sweating, I smiled at my flag with pride and joy.

Then I went home again.

That, I think, is the biggest mistake I made with “Hold Me” – and the biggest lesson I (hopefully) learned.

You have to push through all the way to the end.  You can’t quit when you’re MOSTLY finished, or not QUITE there.  You have to go all out, heart pumping, and cross the finish line.

But then you have to go home.  You have to stop thinking about the book that’s out, and go to work on the next one.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy “Handling It” is available.  I’ll be happier still when it’s also available as a print book (in a couple of weeks). Hearing that people have read it, that they liked it, makes me feel incredibly satisfied.  I’ll even be happy when the bad reviews start to come in (if they do), because that will mean that people read something I’d written.  I don’t even know some of the people reading it.  How awesome is that?

But I have to go home again.  I can’t stay standing on top of the mountain smiling at my flag.  I can’t pull my flag out of the ground and wave around it wildly, trying to get the attention of the people on the ground.  I mean, I CAN.  I can stay on the mountain and flail around like a dancing monkey, if that’s what I want to do.  But doing that won’t get the next book written.

One thing I realized over these years since “Hold Me” was published is this – for me, the important thing is climbing that mountain, planting my flag, coming home, and doing it all over again.  That is how I will view myself as a success – not as a writer, but as a person.  I have climbed, I have succeeded in climbing, and now I have returned to do it again.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

I gave myself the weekend off.  Boy did I need it!  I had to sleep, to get back into a healthier eating pattern, to read words I hadn’t written.  And tomorrow I’ll be able to go back to work on Believing It, plotting out the next book, and setting up the print version of “Handling It”.

The air on top of the mountain is very nice. I want to be able to breathe it again.