Fairies and Tantrums: What Happened The Day Before The Launch

About a week ago everything changed, again.

I sent my book Loreless out into the world.

To use a well-worn cliché, it was a baptism of fire.

On the morning preceding publishing day I wrote down my thoughts.

Now they make interesting reading.

I should be organising stuff, I have so much to do.

But when the clock ticked over to 9:30am, I grabbed the laptop and started to write like I always do.

So here I am.

I need to clear my head. That is why I have escaped into words….

I had been warned about the stress of a book launch week, but honestly didn’t feel fazed by it. I also couldn’t quite work out what all the fuss was about.

Surely it can’t be that bad? And don’t call me Shirley.

Well, I can tell you it’s no walk in the park.

It’s not surprising really. This is my first time. I had a global idea of what needed to be done, but not a plan. In retrospect, having a plan might have helped.

I wrote one this morning. Also probably something I should have done last week, or the week before…

I noticed resistance yesterday. It hit me hard.

‘Don’t do it,’ it said. ‘Just drop everything and run away.’

Resistance also helped an old nemesis raise its head at the eleventh hour.

What do you want to do about the last chapter?

This morning didn’t go at all supple.

Early mornings are always a bit of a battle to get small children off to school.

You endeavour to pump food into them when they don’t want to eat. You have endless negotiations regarding which particularly variety of fruit they want in their lunchbox. You patiently wait for them to come to the bathroom to do their teeth.

You attempt to coax them out the front door.

My daughter decided to dress as a fairy and took an excruciating amount of time to decide on suitable shoes.

My son lost it completely and refused to cooperate. He stood outside the front door and screamed the neighbourhood down.

He hadn’t got his way and was trying to exert his influence. Surprisingly, I stayed calm. Neighbours were yelling out windows and telling him to shut up. He ignored it, as did I.

I held myself together and weathered the storm. Eventually he caved and I got him to school.

Now I sit here with a list of things to do in front of me and don’t quite know where to start.

But I will.

I have to.

This is what I want.

To publish my books and send them out into the world.

Resistance is throwing me constant curve balls.

Just like my son throwing a tantrum.

If I can calmly cope with that, I can do anything. Releasing a book pales in comparison.

In two days it will all be over.

Loreless will be out in the world and then I can watch what it does.

I have done my utmost to make the best creation possible. I’ve edited, honed and fastidiously polished.

I can do no more.

I’ve tried to select the right pair of shoes for it and carefully brushed its teeth. I will send it out the door and trust that it will find its way without me.

It’s now up to the world to decide.

Loreless is now available though Amazon as a Kindle eBook and through Kindle Unlimited.

A paperback version of the book will be available on August the 5th (pre-orders starting soon)