Putting it Out There

Later this week my cover is being revealed for my debut novel, FIXED ON YOU.

I'm a mess.

Usually I'm pretty laid back about everything, I can handle stress and pressure like nobody's business. It's just one of the things I'm good at. But this time? I'm seriously freaking out.

I mean, there's lots to worry about here:

1. What if my cover sucks?
2. What if no one signs up to do the cover reveal? (You can sign up here, by the way *wink, wink*)
3. What if no one reads my book?
4. What if everyone hates the book?
5. WHAT IF I SUCK???

It's hard to put yourself out there, no matter how well you handle stress, no matter how many times you've done it in the past.

Because when you put yourself out there, you might be RIDICULED.

Tamara Mataya and I had a pretty good discussion last week about this very thing. The question is this, if someone puts themselves out there and they suck, does that make them free game to be ridiculed? Like the singers in the early rounds of American Idol, the ones that are absolutely horrible--they put themselves out there on national television so that means we're free to say "BOO!" loud and long, right?

Part of me says yes, emphatically yes. They should expect it, in fact.

But the other part of me says, wait. Because what if, when I put myself out there, what if they ridicule me?

And they will. That's the hard truth. No matter how good of a book I wrote, there will be some who say I suck.

I want to put it out there. I want to be brave. I know there's risk. I know some people will ridicule me, even if a whole bunch of people don't. I think I can learn to get past that.

Well, we're about to find out. Only two days to the reveal. See you then.