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Writer's pictureLeigh Brookes

I published my first book. Now what?


I'm not sure if this blog is meant to be a pity party, whining session, pep-talk to myself, or more of an explanation of how the process of becoming a writer truly looks. So let's dive in and see where we come out.


In December of 2022, I released my first book amidst a flood in my house, my son and his family visiting from California, and the general stress of the holidays. I was going to delay it when I found myself overwhelmed with life, but then thought... why? It's ready. Get it out there as planned because it was what I wanted to do.


The book is part of a series with a cliff-hanger. Love it or hate it, but it needed to end there. Which means book 2 needs to come out quickly to keep people engaged and happy. And now I'm on a self-inflicted punishing deadline of less than 60 days (from today) until my next book comes out. And no. I am not done writing it.


Let me start by saying I do NOT recommend following my lead on this. This is a dumb and highly stressful way to do it. No one is forcing me to get the next book out so quickly. But I know me. I know how I operate. If I don't have a deadline, I will not get it done. And I have goals. I want to finish this series and start another one that's been burning in my mind for years. Someday I can come back to this blog post and link to that series because I will get it done. But in the meantime, I have publicized my second book launch date to make me stick to the schedule and I'm sooo not ready.


And on top of writing the second book, I find many more hats... distracting hats...to wear. I now must market the crap out of my book or no one will know it exists. And if they don't know it exists, they won't buy it. But you can't just post on social media and say buy my book because that's boring. Now you need to have a blog (hiya) and a YouTube channel, and a TikTok account, and make fun videos that people want to watch. And I'm 46 and not exactly feeling my physical attractiveness at the moment.


So then I think...how can I do marketing content for my book that doesn't have me in full makeup on screen? The answer is to post a million and one memes or quotes from the book. But that gets boring... and so we come back to me. You want to see me? I don't want to see me. I want to see made up characters in my mind. That's why I'm a writer!


Shout out to all the middle-aged moms out there who are still saying I wish I was as fat as I was when I used to call myself fat. If you know, you know.


So here I am also trying to push myself to get on that Peloton and start feeling as pumped as the annoying people on social media that actually do workout and feel good. But then I may lose my angst! Just kidding. That will never disappear. I'm totally using any excuse not to exercise because starting something new is hard! And even though all of this isn't supposed to be about how I look or feel, it ends up being about that anyway.


And then I remember...I need to write another book.


So I'm struggling to write that other book. But I keep doing it. And brainstorming on ways to entertain you while I do it. Because this...THIS is what it means to be a writer.


And if you have any thoughts on reels or videos I can create, especially ones that would be entertaining and engaging without having to see me dance on screen, I'm all ears.



AND if I haven't mentioned it yet... Go buy my book!



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