So, this week was tough. It was the first week where I really had to confront the whole “putting myself out there” gross bits of this career.
I managed to open this thread so I can be proud of that I guess but looking at the huge mountain I have to climb is depressing. I want to just run back to the comfort of writing for myself. But it cannot be, and press through the evils I must.
I sent out one pitch for my article to HuffPost on Wednesday. So far nothing. I plan on sending a second pitch tomorrow. My goal is to pitch on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Hopefully someone will say yes. On the plus side, my article is definitely as finished as I can get it to be at this point. I have gotten some feedback from a couple of people which I appreciate.
I also took the uncomfortable step this week of acknowledging that a lot of my work has to be promotion. Self promotion. Promotion of the thing I wrote. This is just part of the deal. I have to learn to sell myself.
Interestingly, I realized that my life was now running in parallel with Book People. The trial by fire they endured of knocking on doors and hearing no over and over again, is pretty much what I have to go through now. To say it’s soul crushing is an under-statement, and not to engage in the suffering Olympics, but both have their own pain. A book person gets rejected to their face - doors slammed etc. But they are selling books that they did not write so it’s not so personal. Me on the other hand, like Book People, I have to learn how to sell books, but for me its a book I made. It’s personal. But at least I get rejected electronically (or just suffer in silent rejection). Though, perhaps rejecting someone to their face is much harder.
Regardless, the parallels are interesting and I look forward to learning more about the world of sales through writing Book People. I am actually looking forward to signing up for Sales School. It will be extremely uncomfortable but at least I’m not the one who has to go knocking on physical doors. There’s much to do and my heart whips between being utterly dejected at how hard its going to be, and unbridled excitement at what’s to come. Like my life-coach Vesna says: just try to ride the waves; focus on creating the life that you want and the rest will fall into place.
The other thing I’ve done this week is start my research on finding a literary agent. Its going to be so horrible but I must continue to push forward, even if the “forward” feels more like nano steps with backward slides. Progress is not linear.
To get me through the book proposal, pitching, business side of it, I’ve armoured up with three classes (two independent studies and one 4 week Catapult class), books, internet research and enlisted the help of my partner. I am trying to be good about doing the homework that’s assigned. So far this week I have tried to rejig by schedule to build pockets of writing time. I feel like my schedule fluctuates more than I’d like but I’m working on it! Next is just to build in plenty of rewards for myself when I manage to get myself to do some of the said gross bits work.
Time to go grocery shopping for lots of potatoes!