Launch Plans

 

One of the challenges of being a self-employed introvert is the necessity to 'sell' yourself.  Because when you are working in a creative field, that is essentially what you are selling.  You.  Your designs.  Your ideas.  Your words.  Your knowledge.  It's all...you.

For so many years I felt I didn't really have anything worthwhile to sell, on the one hand, and on the other knowing that someone, somewhere, might be interested.

The breakthrough for me was taking a course on marketing and having the speaker explain that marketing is just sharing your 'story'.  Since I already knew I was, at heart a story-teller, that explanation resonated with me and I was able to begin 'selling' myself more effectively.

Not that it didn't continue to be a 'drain' on my energy.  Not that my inner critic shut up about being 'not worthy'.  Now I had an ally - my story teller self who managed to quiet the critics and allow me to keeping going toward my goal(s).

This latest Next Big Project was less something that *I* decided to do and more the insistence of my inner muse to write it all out.  Even after writing/publishing two previous books, there were still things that I hadn't yet written about in long form.  Although essays aren't necessarily 'long', they tend to be longer than a blog post, which I consider short form writing.  

The more health issues I was dealing with, the higher the pain, the less ability I had to shut my inner critic up, so then a tussle between my 'muse' and 'inner critic' ensued.  Knowing the lies my inner critic tends to tell, my inclination is to always put more weight on my muse than my critic.  Good angel/bad angel kind of thing.  But it can be exhausting.

After a couple of 'bad' days I woke up this morning feeling 'not too bad' and so I decided to go ahead and book a Zoom meeting to launch Stories.  

We have made significant progress and we have a time frame set out which indicates that all should be in place in time for the July 9 date.  And if not?  It can be a movable feast.  Or, I can still do the reading and answer questions and announce the date at which the book will join the other two on Blurb.

Sometimes you have to leap and have faith the net will appear.

So here I go:  

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82416979306?pwd=dlFVTy9LYnViKzhnU3ZOVlJ5dk9ZUT09

If you are on Facebook I've created an 'event' with the link.  If you are not on Facebook, copy/paste the above link on July 9.  It begins at noon Pacific time and I've said two hours, but OTOH, my inner critic is wondering if this is going to be a case of throwing a 'party' and no one will show up...

But if that happens the only thing damaged will be my ego.  And that I can live with.  OTOH, since I am self-publishing and I have to sell myself, I must go ahead with this 'party'.  And, just in case people *are* interested but can't be there in person I will record and post to my You Tube channel for later viewing.

Funny/fancy hats welcome.  Just saying.