In my last post (The Beast), I wrote about grappling with the challenges of getting ready to launch my newest novel, Core Haven. I compared the task ahead to a beast lurking in a cave & imagined an old-timey character drawing a line in the dirt & calling that pesky critter out. I even came up with a few sarcastic nicknames to help diminish its power.

But a few days later, I was hiking along minding my own business when out of the blue it hit me—I’d fallen victim to a classic case of mistaken identity. The beast behind the curtain isn’t the promotional side of being an independent author. What’s breathing flames & bellowing smoke is my long-running aversion to that phase of the process.

My distaste for the business side of things after self-publishing my companion novel Pearl Fields and the Oregon Meltdown was clouding the fact that even while advertising my wares, so to speak, I’m still pursuing my writing passion. I mean, just because I finish proofreading a piece of fiction & share it in the public arena doesn’t mean I’m not still working on the writing side of my favorite hobby.

It’s a different aspect, plain & simple. It seems clear in retrospect, but that’s how rearview mirror realizations usually go, right?

So my new take on it is that I unintentionally chorized the promotion side of my writing hobby/passion/pursuit by casting it as an onerous task instead of a natural step forward in the process. (Yeah, I know, any language purist reading this will no doubt cringe at my verbalizing a word like chore; just imagine I’m trying to dramatize an example to incentivize you to categorize—OK, I’ll stop with the tacky examples.)

So here I am, reframing yet again & organizing my checkoff lists, deciding which Kindle categories fit best with Core Haven, which keywords to use, which promo options I can justify, when to schedule a Goodreads Giveaway, & so on.

In other words, I’m having a damn good time being an indie author.

Keep you posted.

Drew

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