I read this quote just in time. Just as I was folding.
“The final—and sometimes most difficult—act of creative trust is to put your work out there into the world once you have completed it. . . Fierce trust demands that you put forth the work. . .”
Elizabeth Gilbert in her book, Big Magic
Thank you, Elizabeth Gilbert, runaway successful author of “Eat, Pray, Love,” a brave work that exposes her frailities ‘n vulnerabilities.
IT’S WEIRD TO FINISH A BOOK
. . . especially one that’s been chasing after you for two decades as mine has. All kinds of emotions you were not expecting do pop up. And joy is not one of them. Neither is pride. The emotions tend to range on the shadowy side. Variations of fear . . . people won’t like it. . . I’ll be considered a (fill in the blank). . .the book will be viewed as silly, sophmoric . . . it will flop . . . no one will know about it (more to come, i’m sure).
Rappelling down Maui’s waterfalls (for my company Rappel Maui) is easier than pushing that “submit” button on Amazon to upload my book to the world wide wow (web).
HOW ‘n WHY
How will one book sell amidst the millions already loaded onto Amazon? Am i whisperimg into a void? Writing just for myself? Why does one book matter anyway? Or one painting? Or one scientific theory? Or whatever it is that you do creatively?
Is there a sigh of relief when the book’s last word is written? Certainly not. The book cover and website designs take another six months. Followed by months and months of techie ebook research. FInally, marketing. Blogging, SEO, Facebook, Twitter . . . these modern marketing methods seem egotisitcally driven — putting your photos and words all over the internet. Yick.
I suppose this sounds like “oh poor mj—she wrote a book and now she has to sell it.” Yes, that’s true. Poor me. Yrrrgh.
But then you remind yourself: ITOO is good. Very good. And you’re grateful you are the one to birth it. So, like Baby Blue, you take one small step at a time and hope that at journey’s end you’ve met your challenges with no fear.