The Writer's Rutter

And then the sun came out

Cover of From Dark Places
From Dark Places

I’ve just had one of those ‘sunlight through clouds’ moments.

This morning I had to devote several hours to client work, then moved onto my own stuff, only to find that the provisional date for my first real world book launch may need to be delayed.

As a control freak, being on the brink of several book launches is a sweet torture. There’s absolute joy at finally reaching the point where it can actually happen, but also so many things beyond my control – and my publisher’s control.

So I stepped back and to wait for other pieces of information to come in before setting the final date. And drank tea.

But that wasn’t the sunbeam moment

I moved onto the next task for the day; getting in touch with the lovely people who have posts who are happy to be part of the From Dark Places blog tour I am putting together.

I realised that it would be helpful for them to have a press pack, they could then have the book cover, information about it and the background story behind its route to publication all in one place. “I’ll make a press pack then,” I thought.

You know who arrived then, don’t you?

The anxiety demon. And lots of clouds.

“A press pack?” it scoffed in its rasping voice. “Who do you think you are making a press pack? You’ll get it wrong. And why are you even doing this? If you tell people about it you’ll annoy them, and anyway, don’t do it, because if you start sending that out, people might read it, then they’ll hate it. And you.”

It whispered those last two words, but I heard them. By that point, I had a raging headache and was literally slumped over my keyboard, the epitome of despair.

Then the sun broke through

I don’t know how or why, but at exactly the right moment, a memory of something the lovely Joanna Paterson said on my blog a while ago came back to me. She said that I needed to remember that I am promoting a book – not me – or something along those lines. The key point being that it isn’t me the press pack is about, it’s my book.

Taking a step back

This press pack is just information. I am not going into people’s houses, grabbing them by the lapels and yelling “THIS IS MY BOOK! GO AND BUY IT NOW!” or anything so silly. I am not one of those authors who has an entire Twitter stream of links to my stuff.

It will all be okay.

Stepping out of my skin

I am also remembering that when I hear something one of my friends has been working on for ages has finally come out, I am excited to hear about it. I want to know what it is and where to find it. That’s just… helpful.

So, that’s what I aiming at now: being helpful. All I’m doing is making the information about From Dark Places easy to find for all the lovely people who are helping me to spread the word.

It’s easy to forget

I’m also doing my best to remember not to get angry with myself for repeatedly getting my knickers in a twist about all this. Of course I want it all to go well, of course I want people to love the book and of course I want it to sell. The more books I sell, the closer I get to the ultimate dream: earning enough to only write fiction and not boring commercial stuff. That means more time to devote to the books that I must write before I die. They’re all here, in my head, waiting impatiently.

This post was brought to you by sunlight, tea and a lot of excitement

So this is where things are. I’ve thrown open my office window to air out the sulphurous smell that anxiety demon left behind (I think that was his shortest visit ever) and I’m going back to this press pack. When it’s done, I’ll post a link to it.

Incidentally, if you have a spare space over at your blog for either a guest post or an interview about the book, I’d love to come and visit. I’m very tidy and I make a good cup of tea. And if you review short story anthologies, I would be absolutely tickled pink if you’d review From Dark Places. Either drop me a line or leave a comment below.

Onwards and upwards!