The Blog

This is a fantastic damn day! What started out as a fairly stressful morning has truly turned into a champagne afternoon. Not that I’m drinking champagne right now…I want to…I really, really do – but there’s just something about working on a buzz before five o’clock (unless I’m on vacation, or it’s a Saturday, or I have company to join me). Over the last week I’ve really been hard on myself when it comes to the state of my career. “Where’s my following? How come Oprah hasn’t called? Why aren’t I a household name yet?!” Yeah…patience? Eh. It doesn’t matter that I can be a logical and patient person with everyone else. When it comes to the expectations I place on myself, I suddenly turn into Verruca Salt. “I WANT IT NOW!” Screw the excuses, forget the compassion – if I don’t have Kelly-effing-Rippa pounding on my door by now, I must be doing something wrong. “So my book hasn’t launched yet, why should THAT hinder sales???” *eye roll* Nevertheless, upon meditating yesterday, I was inspired to reflect on how far I’ve come from where my journey first began. Allow me to share. 1. I wrote a book. It doesn’t feel like much because I’m unimpressed with my own achievements, but I know, on some level, it’s a big deal. 2. After the completion of said book, I got accepted to a respected writer’s conference, where I made friends in the industry and ultimately got connected with the amazing editor I have now. I would still be walking in circles without her. 3. A few months ago I launched a blog and, evidently, have more readers than I know about. Hit the FOLLOW button, sisters! It’s right there --> 4. I started Tweeting and am accruing two unsolicited Twitter followers a day, on average. Not bad. 5. I’m making great contacts with people in the field and have published authors who like the concept of my work and are waiting to read/review my book. 6. Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries and one of the “founders” of chick-lit, wrote me personally with an invitation to send her a copy to be considered for her book club. I said, "Cool." My editor said "HUGE." Nuance. 7. The Undiscovered Goddess is due to release in early summer and I already have some fantastic advertisers waiting in the pipeline (PerezHilton.com being one of them). Millions of web-hits a day – that kind of exposure is amazing. 8. I’ve been accepted to a New York publicity summit being held in October. Here I’ll have face time with TV and radio producers, as well as other media, in order to further promote my book. At first I looked over my list of little victories, completely unfazed. “So what?” But then I realized, “Holy cow – a year ago today, I still considered writing just a hobby.” If someone had told me eleven months ago, “Hey, that book you wrote will be published before the fourth of July,” I would have asked them to kindly share whatever it was they were smoking. But here I am, about to approve the jacket blurbs and cover design. I think I need to reevaluate my definition of success…and then pour myself a glass of champagne. Patting myself on the back feels so much better than punching myself in the face. Cheers, Michelle