Around and Around She Goes
My first blog was July 10, 2014 and it read:
“I’m fine as in F.I.N.E. Freaked out, insecure, neurotic and exhausted. It all started when I attended my first writer’s conference – Write-To-Publish. It was eye opening, fun, overwhelming, productive, and informative – I learned so much. And I was motivated to put into practice what I had learned. I was encouraged to create a platform on social media in an effort to help market my book.
I am nothing if not goal oriented. I started out with such eager, naïve enthusiasm and quickly found myself embroiled in a battled with my new website. I am in a foreign country, not knowing the language or even the culture of this new place called social media. I am bruised and confused wondering “Lord, how did I get here? I don’t want to write a blog, tweet, Instagram, or Facebook. I just want to publish my book! “
Flash forward three years and I am now the proud new author of my first book: Surviving Medical Mayhem – Laughing When It Hurts. But as eager as I am I am now in a new foreign country of marketing and feeling those same exact feelings all over again!
It’s a whirlwind! Mail Chimp Campaigns, giveaways, contests, 60 second videos for free resource guides (yes, I have them on my website), capture emails to sell your book, don’t forget those book signings, speaking engagements, your church affiliation, your work contacts and the list goes on. With all this, who has time to write another book or even blog! And I love to blog!
I need a rest. After all, I am not a young woman! My brain is soaking up so much information but its contents are overflowing, spilling forth on my desk and merging into one soggy mess.
I lift my eyes to the Lord in heaven and sigh. I close my eyes and hear Him say: “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). I open my eyes and think: “The will of God will not take you where the grace of God will not protect you”.
I look where I was a year ago: happily blogging but no publisher in site, frustrated that my book might never be published but wanting to help those going through medical adversity. While the challenges of marketing and being a new author is overwhelming; it is not unlike the foreign country of medical care – it can be learned. And learning I am. I am applying what I have learned from all the medical adversity in my life, following my own advice from my book: seeking out good counsel, asking questions despite how ignorant (okay, dumb) I appear and practicing until I get it right. And you know what? With each step I take it gets a little easier. I will do the 60 second videos even though I am not photogenic,. I will do the interviews even as my heart so loud the interviewer will surely hear , and I will become proficient at Mail Chimp. For with God’s help and the patience of my friends, family and publisher I am going from stressed to blessed.