I read JA Konrath’s blog post about new year’s resolutions, and it gave me a much-needed ass-whupping.
I’ve been experimenting with advertising, with reaching out to review sites and other blogs, and for the results, please see the title of this post. When I try things and they don’t have immediate effects, my natural response is to freeze.
I think: “Maybe I haven’t given it enough time. Maybe I need to just wait and see if it pans out.” Then I think: “Or maybe if I don’t act on my first instincts, I’m just too scared to try something else. Maybe I should be bolder.”
Maybe I should be wild and experimental. Maybe I should try something crazy. Maybe I should just do something traditional and give it a chance.
Again, see title.
The reason I finished Alex was because I allowed myself to suck. I’ve given this advice to other aspiring writers I know, but I’ll recap it: you must give yourself permission to suck. If you don’t have permission to suck, the only book you’ll allow yourself to write is a perfect one. And guess what? There’s no such thing as a perfect book.
I took my own advice, plowed through the rough parts, re-touched them all during the revision process, and finished a book.
Now I’m trying to promote, and I’m terrified of making a mistake. I have these ideas, but I keep rejecting them as too far out there. Enter Konrath.
To paraphrase: I didn’t get here by suppressing my creative instincts.
I revised a couple of my running ads, made them a little weirder and a little more like the prose in the book; in fact, they are paraphrased passages from the book, some of the harder hitting ones that I can share without giving anything way, pared down to fit in the allotted ad space. I’m excited about this approach because it’s original. I made it up. If it doesn’t work, I’ll own it – and try something else.
But at least I’m not sitting still. If I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, I can freeze or keep on throwing out ideas until something works. I’ll go for the latter.
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