October 2012 – Valerie Seimas

It’s almost November and you know what that means – NaNoWriMo is here!!

For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org – visit them!). No Plot, No Problem – just write 50,000 words in 30 days. Easy, right? Ha, I laugh! This is one of the most creatively insane things that can be done. 1667 words a day? Every Day? For a whole month?!

I’ve done this before – twice in fact, always a winner! – and every time it has jump-started me. What I usually write is fantasy insanity. The first time the plot had holes big enough to drive a semi through and the tone could never make up its mind (am I a family drama? a mystery? an absurd fantasy) but there was a crime ring set at a circus. The second time I created an awesome fantasy trilogy that will one day be published but currently, yeah, has plot holes big enough to drive a minivan through.

This time I’m planning on being a lot more focused – no fantastical elements, no supernatural powers – just a hopefully arresting story that I can look back on and be proud of. This time I want the emotion to come through, loud and clear – this Published Author’s no longer joking around.

I’ll be proud when I make it to the end cause I’ll have written thousands of words in a month. People brag about running 5Ks – this 50K sprint is much harder to achieve. And much more up my alley – I don’t much like running.

So wish me luck! It’ll be a crazy journey but you know what they say, it’s all about the journey baby, not the destination. T-minus 27 hours and counting . . .

We can now add “published author” to my resume. Between the recently acquired MBA letters after my name and that nifty contest I won for having the most pathetic living situation 10 years ago. It’s not the longest resume, I’ll give you that, and yeah, it’s both eccentric, random, and self-promoting but hey – I’m A Published Author Now, give me a

My book cover – isn’t it cool! Designed by Maritza Lugo

bit of slack.

The hard thing about being a Published Author (and yes, I’m going to keep writing that in Caps because it’s just that awesome) is that being one did not magically create a banner to follow me around proclaiming it. I have to do that myself. That’s what being a SELF-Published Author means.

So I sat down and I wrote a book – a good book if I do say so myself, and I do – but that is not the end of the story. No, this story is nowhere near complete. I’ve fulfilled my dream, that’s true – I have sent my creation out into the world, I contributed something to the general conversation, the possibility that I have touched someone’s life with my words exists – but that’s just not enough anymore. Now I don’t only want to write a book, I want people to read it too.

Ah, there’s the rub. I wrote some words, I formatted them into something recognizable as a book, I put them on the web to be part of our consumer culture. All of that can be done in basic solitude – now I need to Converse with people, Market to people, Sell to people. I am many things (Published Author now too!) but a salesman is not one of them. Unlike my father, I don’t think I could sell water to someone dying of thirst (he cold sell ice to an Eskimo).

So I’m published and that is Awesome and Amazing. Don’t get me wrong, I 100% believe this – I’m proud, tickled pink, pleased as punch. It’s something that I can say for the rest of my life – Published Author – and nothing that can ever be taken away from me. But it’s not enough. And I’m not sure what the best way to make it enough is. To make it more. To make it matter.

So my name is Valerie. I wrote a romantic comedy that everyone is destined to love. I have a few other books in my back pocket (some fantasy, some more romance, some general fiction, but most of all just some well-written stories). And if you’re looking for something to keep you company for a few hours, I know just the characters to do it.

Follow the link and go check it out – at $2.99 it’s a literal steal. If you like your romance with a side of comic books, superheroes, and movie stars, I think you’ll like what you see. And I know I’ll Like It. 😉

Monthly Archives: October 2012

A Novel In a Month?!

Publication Accomplished!