Coming to the party

​As the countdown to Degrees of Control drops to less than two months I find myself wondering things. Has an author ever sold zero books? Should I be blogging more? Is anyone even paying attention to the things I write? When you're insecure about your future book it gets even harder to promote yourself, as all unagented upcoming authors need to do. Sometimes I'm tempted to withdraw and leave the fate of Degrees of Control to chance. I've never been good at putting myself in siutaions of vulnerability. You can often find me at parties, chatting determinatedly to the people I already know.

But this year I've had to take steps away from my own self serving behaviour, starting with writing a book, giving it to a publisher and now opening myself up to the scrutiny of friends, lovers, strangers, former teachers and the world. On the whole I've decided to behave as though people are paying attention to what I do, even if only in some fleeting way. This week I participated in a promotion Facebook party for Liquid Silver Books. Even though I couldn't possibly make any sales from this encounter (having no book to sell) I approched the event as a learning opportunity. To my suprise, myself and the author I shared an hour long slot with had a blast. We connected with our fellow authors and hopefully put ourselves out there to an audience who may remember us when our books come out. Or not. Either way I learned to make book posters in the Paint app on my laptop, something I certainly wouldn't have learned if I had refused to come to the party.