A Moment to Freak Out

I had a serious crisis this morning. My wife, who is also my social media manager, had been using an older draft copy of my manuscript to generate posts on Instagram. Not a big deal, there weren’t a ton of rewrites between the drafts. But she said something that absolutely destroyed me. It was an innocent comment and she meant no malice, but my impostor syndrome came right back to front and center.

“You took out that adverb. I liked it there.”

That was it. It was neither accusatory nor snarky. I lost it all: the false confidence, the bravado, the pride I had in the accomplishment. I went upstairs, gave myself a haircut, and took a shower. The whole time, I’m parsing words in my head, wondering if I had cut too many adverbs and taken my voice out of the narrative. Is it going to be offensive, will people hate it, will I be accused of any number of social injustices? I have to imagine that every author at some point has had this exact freak out.

I gathered myself back in and focused on some of the marketing aspects. Every time I think I’ve passed “the hard part” of the process, I find the next one. I got desperately confused and overwhelmed with Reader Magnets, ARC distribution and protection, mailing lists, integrations and the like. Thankfully, I found this wonderful blog post which broke it down very clearly and succinctly. I still haven’t made any decisions on my platform yet, but the handful of readers of this blog will get the news as it happens.

Another freak out was around my Amazon Author Page, wherein I am listed as “Alexander Clark, Scott.” I mean, what? I mean, really, WHAT?? I guess this comes from the publisher, so something between Ingram and Amazon got crossed up. Liz went to see if B&N had it right, and then we found this…

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

Words I wrote exist FOR SALE on Barnes and freaking Noble! That’s it, I died right there. Both because it is done, accomplished, real, but because I can’t take it back now! So, as you can probably see, it has been a unique Sunday for me. If you’re interested in the pre-order, here’s the link. As soon as I get the proof copy of the paperback this week, I’ll be opening that up for distribution and there will be more to come on that.

1 thought on “A Moment to Freak Out”

  1. Hey Scott,
    Glad my blog post was of some value during your moments of crisis. I think every writer could relate to being devastated by an off-hand comment and elated by seeing your book come together.
    Thanks for the link and good luck with “Her Violet Empire”!
    John

Comments are closed.