Plotting the book, Pantsing the Launch
So I'm a plotter, as a writer. Which means for my upcoming novel, "Under The Full And Crescent Moon", I had a very clear outline of what I wanted the story to be.
Writing
Less Than One Month
As seems to be tradition, I am writing this a day late. In less than a month my book comes out. I wish I could focus on just that amidst the devastation of the world.
But I kind of did yesterday!
Less Than Two Months
Yesterday, the book was two months away from launching in Canada. Today it is one day less than that.
I might be a day late again with this update, but that's not too bad and, even though I'll never be satisfied by how much work I have been able to put into marketing "Under The Full and Crescent Moon", I have to be kind to myself and realize I did quite a lot this week, and this month overall.
And of course, meanwhile, the people of Gaza are starving to death and I am helpless in the face of it because of the leaders of the 'free world'.
Asking for Blurbs was hard
Publishing a book is an incredibly new experience for me and the number of things that I had to do after signing the publishing contract was really quite astounding. One that I was absolutely not looking forward to was asking for blurbs. Just the idea of reaching out to established authors and asking them to read a debut novel from someone they didn't know was terrifying, let alone getting them to say something nice. So I steeled myself for rejection and started sending out requests.
I think I prepared myself for rejection so well that it was surprising when people accepted, and even ore when blurbs started to come in. I have a hard time accepting praise and I certainly am feeling that way with the kind words that came in for "Under the Full and Crescent Moon". I think going over the blurbs and talking about how they make me feel is going to help me process these emotions.
Time is running away
The three month countdown to the book launch officially began two days ago and I wish I had more in the hours in the day to do the novel justice in my marketing efforts. Still it is what it is and Alhamdulillah there is so much that I was able to do in this month.
Time is running away
So here we are less than four months away from the launch of my book and I'm five days late in making my monthly post.
It's kind of reflective of where I find myself. It's been a very busy month for me personally but my book marketing has suffered as a result.
So instead of giving an overview of how my month went as I usually do I want to talk about why I think I haven't been focusing on getting the word out about "Under the Full and Crescent Moon".
Life Events and Lack of Focus
In my end of March blog post I stated that I wanted this month to be far more focused on marketing my book.
That mostly did not work as expected. But still I was able to get stuff done and it has been an eventful month.
Belated Ramadan Mubarak and early Eid Mubarak
Ramadan started a week after my last monthly post, please accept my belated congratulations for all those who celebrate the blessed month. And since Eid will be in a week from now please accept an early Eid Mubarak!
Ramadan has gone well this year, not only did all denominations start Ramadan on the same day, which is rare, but it also coincided with the month of March. This has made tracking the days of the month incredibly easy. It has also not been a particularly hard three weeks as this year the month has fallen between the long and thirsty days of summer and the shorter and far more pleasant winter fasts.
That last sentence of the paragraph is the second sentence from my novel, only slightly re-written. Think of it as a little preview six months out from launch!
Not going to lie February was kind of difficult
A lot happened in February and a lot of it was pretty difficult. I lost a close family member, my elderly mother had an accident which required a greater amount of care, and there was an unprecedented amount of snow that was dumped onto my part of the world in the space of a week which meant that there were hours and hours spent on snow clearing. Time and energy that I would have loved to spend elsewhere.
For me it's important to put my difficulties into perspective as a lot of other people in the world are going through so much worse than I am, but also to recognize my own fatigue, pain, and frustration as well. It's an impossible balancing act to maintain with perfection, but the closer I get to that balance the more I feel I'm able to both give myself time and space to recover, as well as keep from wallowing in self-pity, saying Alhamdullilah, and persisting.
A part of maintaining that perspective is to recognize what I have accomplished over the last month. The biggest of which is moving into a different phase in the journey to publication of "Under The Full And Crescent Moon"
Preorder Now!
There are a lot of milestones that I'm looking forward to as a new author. Seeing the book in my local library or in a bookstore, holding it in my hands for the first time. I am incredibly grateful to have these events to look forward to Inshallah.
Two of those milestones have been reached this month. The first is preorders have opened for Canada and the United States, Alhamdulillah!
I would be really honoured if you could preorder it. The various options are on my link tree Here
The second is the cover reveal! Click on for more.