It’s just a few days before my book, Return to Star Junction, launches into the world. As I sit to write this post, and a few for social media, wondering what will be the right, best, magical combination of words and posts to get my book noticed, and ordered, I am feeling calmer than I thought I would. Calmer than I think I should be. I looked at the calendar to count days and surprised myself that it wasn’t two weeks away, or ten days, or a week…OMG! My little love project launches in just 5 days. FIVE. With that realization comes another. I’m not calm at all. I’m petrified. 🙂
I’ve felt myself a writer since I wrote my first story in the Fourth grade. I used to write poetry and songs that my family suffered through me singing with zero musical training. But the lyrics would come and so I sang them. And, they eventually got better, especially the poetry. I added short stories to the mix, and fell in love with the idea of writing screenplays. But I never let the writing be my focus. It was always the dream burning beneath the surface.
Can I confide in you? It was absolutely, 100% a confidence issue.
I don’t know what it is about aging, but something shifts inside. We get better at calling ourselves out on our own BS and self-sabotage. These characters and this sweet story came to me in awe inspiring, magical places — and my dream woke up and said “NOW.” And so I wrote and trusted and rode the rollercoaster of sharing the words, bad advice, great guidance, the critical voice inside, and the ever-dreadful editing process.
And now, I am standing right here, with my completed book in my hands, hours from being truly visible and announcing with a bang. “I am a writer. I am an author. This is my dream.”
