When I first decided to publish my novel, Looking for Love, I was under the erroneous impression that writing it was the most difficult part. Now I know better—writing is the easy part. What follows the completion of the novel is the hard stuff.

First, I took every chapter to my writing group for critiquing. Then I had the novel read by several critical readers—meaning people who would be honest about the story, the believability of the characters and the quality of my writing. Next, I had the novel edited by a retired copy editor to make sure my grammar usage was acceptable.

Then, I actively searched for an agent: a search that included paying for 10 minute interviews at conferences that cost me $4 a minute. After several nerve –wracking interviews and the inevitable “Sorry, we can’t use your work right now letters,” I found a publisher.

“Hooray,” I said. “This completed work will be published in no time at all.”

That was seven months ago. Since then, I have rewritten a significant portion of the novel to change the voice from passive to active, had the novel re-edited and made all of those corrections and re-read the novel twice ( all 69,00 words) to make sure there was no left over typos from the editing process. One of the re-reads was aloud, so I could catch any mistakes I had missed.  I also had a formal portrait taken (at my own expense). In addition to that, I have started a publicity campaign which included distributing flyers I had printed (at my own expense) announcing the imminent publication for my first novel.

In addition, I have some control over the design of the cover—so I have conducted at least 5 (maybe more) searches for the right picture to depict the main character, Christy Doyle. So far, the cover designer and I have yet to find the picture—so I will be looking again…

And now, I have the really hard work to complete: writing the synopsis. You may be thinking—how could that be hard? After all, you wrote the book. Right—and I used almost 70,000 words to do it. Now I have to condense that story into about 100 words—not an easy task for someone who likes to go on and on and on.

As I get closer to an actual firm publications date, I feel both excited and apprehensive. What if this novel I’ve invested so much of my time and my energy into is—well, a dud? What if it gets bad reviews on Amazon? What if I only sell twenty copies—and just to my friends and family? What if…well, you get the idea.

But, even with all of those what-ifs, I am excited about my novel, Looking for Love. And I hope that when it is finally available, you will be excited along with me.