Which is why my brain has been working overtime with worry and nagging self-doubt. It's no small thing to launch my story and characters into the e-book world, knowing that once discovered it can be reviewed and criticised for all to see. Unpublished, the story is "safe". It's been read by a few friends who have said kind and encouraging things about it but if they hated it, they'd be far too nice to tell me.
So why, my brain asks, should I risk public humiliation by sending it "out there" into the scary world? At this point I could all too easily retreat from the goal I set myself over a year ago for no better reason than the fear of what some people, who I'll most likely never meet, might feel/say about my work. On this occasion, though, I don't think I will.
Mindful of the ease with which I could "wimp out" I have taken the precaution of telling lots of people that the book is finished and will be published soon. I've created a situation where NOT seeing it through an unacceptable outcome. I have sent it away to some friends and family to be independently proof-read before publication, however, as a necessary concession to my nerves. Not because I need some more people to tell me I should e-publish but because I want it to be as good as it can be when I do.
After the hours of work, I have come to feel that the story and the characters deserve to be "out there" and I should not worry too much about what comes afterwards. The achievement and satisfaction is in the doing of it and if just one reader stumbles across Storm on the Cathe and feels it was an enjoyable use of their time to read it, then I would feel it was worthwhile.
So folks, you read it here! Storm on the Cathe WILL be available on Kindle sometime in April 2013. For me, this is both exciting and terrifying, but it IS going to happen!
