I am an Author

I wrote a book. I had written this book exactly two years ago this month. March of 2012 I completed the first draft. I was proud of the book. Proud but not ready to actually print the book and put it into the hands of others. I most certainly was not ready to say the words, “I am an author” to anyone- not even in my own head, to myself, where no one else would hear it!!!

This past November I attended a workshop called Publish A Book And Grow Rich. I will be completely transparent here, I just wanted to get whatever information they had to offer and had no intention of buying their package. I needed a kick in the ass to get me moving on printing my book. I got it.

The event began on Friday evening and our first piece of homework was to tell someone, “I am an author”. I had a really really hard time with it. I procrastinated like crazy. I couldn't even bring myself to tell the guys I was attending the workshop with! I just could not say the words out loud. Saturday morning, 20 minutes before I had to be back in the event room I wrote this post on Facebook:

As I hit post I could feel my body convulse in silent protest.
I shared my experience with the room that morning. I felt like I was out of integrity in saying that I was an author and I already had the book written. In my mind if it's not printed and out there for people to read I am not really an author. I was also dealing with the notion that I had no credentials that gave me a right to write a book called, “S-E-X: How did YOU learn to spell it?”

I was scared. I was scared of what people would think. I was scared of what people would say. I was scared people wouldn't want to read it. I was nervous. I was excited about the possibility of people loving the book and really wanting to support it- which incidentally is also scary because then how successful could I become? I was so many things all at once, many of which conflicted!

While at that event I made the commitment to have the book in print by January 31st 2014.

The month of January was all about getting the book ready. I working diligently on the formatting, having a very clear vision for how I wanted the book to look inside. When I finally got a clear vision of what I wanted the book to look on the outside I worked hand in hand with my friend and artist Katana DuFour and then my graphic designer responsible for getting the cover print ready Ray Wilkins. I got my ISBN number. I got my cataloguing information from libraries Canada. I submitted everything to CreateSpace, Amazon's publishing house, and ordered my first 80 copies on January 26th, 2014- to arrive at their destination by February 3rd!

When I held a copy of my book for the first time I was in awe. I thought I would scream, or jump up and down or react in some other large very Veronica way. I didn't. I just stood there starring at the book in my hands. I couldn't even believe it was real. It felt like if I moved it would disappear.

I have now sold roughly 50 copies of the book and I have received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback.

I am getting better at owning the title 'author' because I keep saying it. It's like any muscle, the more you work on it the stronger it gets.

Ladies and gentlemen I have something I would like to tell you... I am an AUTHOR! My book is “S-E-X: How did YOU learn to spell it?” You can purchase your copy here. Please make sure to let me know if you would like it autographed and to whom!