In the fall of 2011, I loaded up the cat and some meager belongings and drove west again—this time, making Oregon my new home.
The first few months were rocky, to say the least, hunting
for jobs and trying to get on my feet. There was little time and no money to
move forward with Just Wait or even my
new novel-in-progress.
In between temp jobs and permanent jobs (working way too
many hours) and moving to different dwellings, I continued to polish the
manuscript and update my main character so that she exhibited the behavior and
sensibilities of a 30 year-old in 2013 instead of 1999.
I called up my niece (who paints the most incredible
portraits) and asked her if she had time—in her busy schedule of being an ICU
nurse and a mom—to paint the image I had in mind for my book cover. She not
only had time, but she insisted on doing it for free.
Wow.
In late summer, 2013, I finally landed my ideal
writing/editing job. With a steady income again, I was able to formulate an
earnest publishing plan for Just Wait.
That was when providence took over and doors began to fly
open.
First, I discovered the Northwest Independent Writers
Association (NIWA). I went to their monthly meeting and it felt like I’d hit
the jackpot in a casino. Here were all these creative, experienced, helpful and
marketing-savvy writers who were also making a go of independent publishing.
They offered a wealth of advice about presses, the success of eBooks, what sort
of cover gets you the most readers and how to best market yourself. Being a
member of this association meant getting lots of help doing book events, author
readings and trade shows—as a recognized group. They even developed a seal you
could be awarded for your book—based on a rubric of criteria and a panel of
third party reviewers—to let readers know that your book is bookstore-quality. I
had found my people. Now I would no
longer have to go it alone in the most difficult phase of the writing industry
– the business phase.
NIWA also alerted me to the fact that Amazon’s CreateSpace
was a publishing source that was free if you did your own book interior and
cover. No expensive setup fees like the other publisher I’d used. Free was
exactly what I needed at that point, still getting back on my feet from a
summer of unemployment.
Wow!!!
On the marketing side of things, the big inspiration that
came to me for my official book launch was a YouTube video that would hopefully get passed around to friends
of friends of friends, and also by people who visited my author page on
Facebook. In the video, I would feature people talking about something they are
still waiting for in life. And what better song to use in the video than “Waiting”
by the Irish group The Devlins (first heard on RP). So I sent an email to their
website and the next day I got a
reply back from Colin Devlin himself giving me sync permission. He wrote, “I’m
assuming this is self-published, right? I wish you all the best with your
project!”
Oh my Got!!!
With the city of Portland
as my setting (a city very much in the limelight due to several TV shows filmed
there), I interviewed random people, friends and acquaintances of all ages for
a wide variety of responses. I made a big sign saying: “Want to be in a PDX
YouTube video about waiting?” and planted myself by a fountain at the Saturday
Market by the river. Thus far, I’d only been able to interview people over 35, when
my target audience was supposed to be younger, unmarried people who were still
looking for their niche in life. As I sat there watching people pass by, I silently
said to the universe, “Universe, send me a group of young men in their early
20s, who are globally-minded and cultural like my nephew Paul and his friends.
Maybe they’ll even have skateboards.” Within the next 15 minutes, three young
men in their early 20s (two with skateboards, one with bongos) happened by and
wanted to know more about the video. One of them even looked like my nephew’s
friend! Two of them did an interview.
WOW!!
After a long and enjoyable afternoon talking to people, I
packed up my stuff and headed for Pioneer
Square. I was getting hungry and a little chilled
(I had a sore throat and cold coming on, but decided to venture out anyway), so
I decided to give it about 20 minutes before heading for home. I told the
universe, “Universe, I still need young women
in this video. My main character is a 29-year-old woman—so I really need someone
like her in this video more than anyone else.” Three young women had been meandering
around taking pictures with their youngish looking mother. I lost track of them
just before deciding to call it a day. Then as I stood gathering my things, the
group of girls and their mom came up to me out of nowhere. “What’s this all
about?” the mom asked with a smile. When I told them, two of the girls decided
to interview—at their mother’s urging!
Amazing!!!
So the video came together beautifully. I even got one of my
nieces, who was nine months pregnant at the time, to send a photo of herself
(when she is normally an introverted, anti-spotlight kind of girl) so that I
could show someone waiting for a baby to come.
NO WAY!
Around this time, my niece had finally completed her
painting and sent me an image of the finished product. Immediately, there were
ob-stackles (ever since seeing O Brother Where Art Thou, I can’t pronounce the
word any other way). The painting was square and needed to fill a 6 x 9 cover. Also,
the best-resolution original was shot at an angle that was presenting problems.
Fortunately for me, I have lots of Photoshop-savvy friends and acquaintances.
One of them, a mega-talented photographer, knew how to fix the problem and graciously
offered to help. He not only corrected the angle, but he created a reflection
at the bottom that extended the art to fit specs.
WOOHOO!
Then the long and tedious final leg of the journey was upon
me. The final proofing. I was still finding klunky parts. I was still finding
extra spaces and indents. There were still ways to make certain scenes flow
better. And to top it all off, my sister in Hawaii—who offered her “second pair of eyes”
for final proofing and beta reading—brought up something that was going to be
very time consuming. Commas. These
days, writers are taking liberties. They are no longer adhering to the very
precise and old-school methods of comma usage for various phrases. They are
leaving several out, probably much to the horror of grammar Nazis. She told me
my precise usage was creating a very stilted, disruptive flow in my manuscript.
GAH!
So I spent the week before and during Thanksgiving going
through the manuscript with an even finer-toothed comb, making sure my comma
removals worked and sounded okay. Hell, if Cormack McCarthy can write dialogue
with no quotation marks, then surely I could get away with removing a few
commas.
Finally, there was one more ob-stackle to clear. I had
planned on using one of CreateSpace’s back cover templates, but none looked
very professional. In fact, they were CRAP. Once again, I desperately needed
the services of a designer. Another online friend came to my rescue in the 11th
hour!
Fanfreakintastic!!!!
And then…..
After twelve years, myriads of edits, countless bleary-eyed late
nights of proofing to make the Christmas deadline and a dream team of people
who brought it all together in the final month (including a niece who expertly put my website back together again)……it was FINALLY go-time.
That’s what I get for titling a book Just Wait.
And now without further adieu......happy reading!
Cover art by Carolyn Lander, front cover design by Terry Alford and Scott Larsen
