First Post

By: Sara Cleveland

I think the hardest thing about starting a new blog is writing the first post. There’s something terrifying about the fresh start of an empty blog. After all, this is – potentially – my first chance at making a good impression on you, dear reader. So I find myself asking several questions. How do I start? Where do I start? What will draw people in?

Maybe something deep is better left for a second post.

With that said, I think I will take this opportunity to explain the purpose of this blog and my website as a whole.

Right now I am in the process of revising my first completed novel draft. I’ve just finished doing my first run through with the dreaded Purple Pen of Doom. Not red. Red ink is for the grammar nitpick, which will come later when I turn the book over to my dear friend and copy editor. Anyhow, with a book actually in the editing process it’s time to start thinking about publishing and all the fun things that go with it.

I have decided to go the self publishing route. There are lots of reasons for this, but not the least of which is that I retain complete control over my work. If there is one thing working on the college paper for a summer taught me it’s that I don’t really like editors. Oh, I understand the need for them, especially copy editors. However, I do not like somebody telling me how my story will be whether I like it or not. There’s nothing more disheartening than reading something you worked hard on and realizing there’s nothing of what you wrote left.

With self publishing comes all the problems of marketing and gaining a following. That is where this blog and my website on the whole come into play. This is my space where I will share with you my thoughts, my frustrations, and my victories as I work my way through self publishing my first book (and then hopefully many more to come). This is also a space for you, dear reader, to share with my your thoughts, frustrations, and victories. I hope my new inbox will be full of comments and questions as I release a few sneak peeks into my first book.

So, that’s it, my first post to this blog. I hope you’ll come back and follow along with me on this adventure. I also hope you’ll join Penelope for her adventure when my book hits Kindle, Nook, etc this spring!