THE HONEYMOON EFFECT
Liz Flaherty
http://www.lizflaherty.com/
Don’t you just love the honeymoon period?
You’ve
already done the run around the kitchen table thing when you typed “The
End,” saying yes, yes, YES before you gave much thought to how much you
were going to miss the people you’ve been writing about. You’ve said
“yes, thank you so much” quietly and with great dignity when a contract
was offered, then run around the table again, shrieking this time. Yes,
yes, YES. You’ve been through all the rounds of edits and no one has
threatened anyone else with death or dismemberment, though there was
that time when the copy editor got insistent about serial comas… You
have, oh yes, yes, YES one more time, the most glorious cover ever and
you get to show it around some. See here? you get to say on 101 guest
blogs. Isn’t it just the coolest thing?
The book will be out…oh,
soon, but for now, you can share an excerpt. Cut and paste the blurb.
Say where you got the idea, what you’re working on now, how you
celebrated your sale, what you’d be if you weren’t a writer.
You get
to choose swag, wear ribbons that say you’re published, join with other
writers who know “the secret.” Because there is one, you know. There
must be. You’ve been hearing about “the secret” since the day you joined
RWA or other large writers’ groups. Admittedly, published writers
usually snickered when they talked about “the secret,” but surely…
Oh,
the anticipation of waiting for the book to be out, to be available
from the publisher, and on—oh, squee, Amazon! You know you make more
money if people order from the publisher, but, really, Amazon! Yes,
yes…what? Oh, you get it? I don’t have to say it again? Okay.
The
great thing about the honeymoon period is that you get to have it with
every single book. I’m as excited about my eighth book as I was the
first one. Because they’re all different. THE GIRLS OF TONSIL LAKE is my
first women’s fiction title. I loved writing it. Loved it! It will be
out…soon.
And then…well, then the honeymoon will be over. What comes
next is no less exciting, but it has different sides. It has what
amounts to hanging the toilet paper wrong, squeezing toothpaste from the
middle, and not being able to hit the hamper from six inches away. I
mean, your book is in your hot little hands or, at the very least, your
cover is up on Amazon and you’re a presence on Goodreads, but nothing’s
really happening. There will be reviews, some worthy of another run
around the kitchen table, some creating a cold hard place you have to
work hard at melting down into experience. Your sales will be…well, what
sales are, and you will have to work at promotion. At selling yourself
when all you want to do is sit and write and interact with other writers
on Facebook. People will ask when your next book will be out and you’ll
have the cold, hard place again because you don’t know. You’re blocked.
Your editor didn’t like your next story.
I love the marriage days
of being published, the book-on-the-shelves and royalties-in-the-pocket
part, even with all its attendant ups and downs, but sometimes—like
before every book—it’s fun to be on the honeymoon.
Liz Flaherty
http://www.lizflaherty.com/
Yep - you got it down. Thanks for the thoughtful post!
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's it, baby. Great post, Liz and I can't wait for Girls of Tonsil Lake!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Love that honeymoon phase!
ReplyDeleteHi, Liz. Good post. I never have thought of a Honeymoon period. Then it hit me what I do when a story is sent off--I clean up my office. That's my honeymoon. lol
ReplyDeleteWell said, Liz. Looking forward to the book.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true. Why then does it surprise me every time? I'm so glad to hear you have a new release coming out soon!
ReplyDelete@Ashantay, thanks!
ReplyDeleteSee you Friday, Nan!
I do, too, D.
Oh, gosh, Vicki, I should do that,too. I won't--but I should!
Hi, Joan. Thanks!
I don't know why, Alison--it surprises me, too!
Thanks for coming by!
Love that, Liz. Look forward to the book.
ReplyDelete