Publishing a new book will never give me the same high as having children, but it is way up there with feeling good. The initial idea to the moment of publication is like a pregnancy of growing bliss, wonder, and fear. Ideas can shake me alive in a night of sleep, splash coldly at me in the shower, or jerk me out of the mundane experience of traffic. When ever or where ever they come from, ideas are a welcome kid in my brain.
From the idea springs the outline, journal notes, and blank new document on the computer screen. Touching the keyboard and setting up what will be happening is like writing out your best day and what you want from it--could be a trip to Disneyland or the moon, it is all up to me. With the wondrous computer, I can write, delete, cut, copy and paste my story into whatever I please. This is my story, and I'll do what I want.
Having finished an outline, I know where I will be traveling. Of course, I can always head my car in a new direction. An outline serves me as a guide, but I will always be the commander--that's something I don't get to be with my teenagers. My journey of a thousand miles has been prepped: shoes are on, lunch is packed, water bottle filled and the keyboard is at the ready. Story has commenced.
I will write a rough draft, read, leave it for a day, re-read, re-vise re-vise and re-vise, ask for critiques and re-vise again. Once it is ready, I feel the birthing pangs hitting. If there is no fear in my tummy that this may be the best or worst thing ever written, then I have not done it right. There is no done as an author, only the need to feel done because re-vising again draws the bile to my mouth. So rather than vomit fear, I publish.
What fun and horror it is to be a writer.
Yesterday I launched my first non-fiction eBook for Kindle. It is a how-to for massage therapists wanting to break into the world of working in a luxury spa--something I did for close to ten years. I hope to help therapists, pros and newbies, get into the field that I loved and served me well. Being in a profession that helps people feel good is insanely wonderful. Being I writer, I get to reach more people and hope to entertain in a different way, but the role of the therapist was a good one for me.
Now I will watch as my newly launched book goes forth into the world like the boys on their first day of school. Being the successful young men they now are, I can only hope my books do as well as they have.
Oh, the possibilities of where this book will go!
Heather Leigh
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