Tiffany M. Davis

I’ve had a (successful) pre-release of The Bastille Family Chronicles: Camille (informally known as The Camille Chronicles). My official release was today (yay!). I’ve gotten overall positive initial feedback.

Now the real work begins: waiting.

Pre-release offers that were purchased will be winging their ways to their purchasers within the next week. The word about my book is making its way through the general public on a larger scale now. It takes a few days for purchases to show up on my royalty statements, so I’m not sure how many books have been sold yet in the world. And, of course, no one has posted reviews of my book, so I don’t know how people have received it.

And so I wait.

Waiting is the hardest part. There is an old saying that, “An idle mind is the devil’s playground.” I’m not cooking up assassination plots or anything, but my mind thinks of more insidious things. Like never selling a book. Or that no one will like it. Or that I am a legend in my own mind. Or I will end up in the bargain bin, or Better Book World, or one of the free e-books available on Kindle or Nook.

Self-doubt is part of being a writer. Indeed, it’s part of any creative person. Our work is so subjective, and is so much more likely to be chewed up and spit out by the mouth of public opinion. As a writer, our egos are paradoxically sensitive and tough; sensitive to criticism, yet tough enough to keep taking it, rejection after rejection. Like throwing spaghetti against the wall and hoping it will stick.

I sit here and wait, and hope that my strand of spaghetti sticks against the “read this book” wall. And try not to freak out while working on the next book (which entails pushing back the thoughts of, “Are you sure that people will want to read another book by you?”).

Thanks for stopping by.