… and went out like a, like a… a delightful fairy? Something happy and light but definitely not inconsequential. (I’m in the thick of my paranormal WIP, guess I have that on the brain. Except I’m not writing about brain-eating dead people or ethereal sprites, just one lonely ghost!)
This year has been, for lack of a better word, FULL. Lots of heavy things of a personal nature that I won’t go into were still weighing me down when January 1, 2011 rang in, but over the months they began to shift and change and eventually lighten the load for me and many others, too. For that I am very grateful.
But as this is a blog and site primarily writing-focused, I’ll go there.
January 2011: Still a bit touchy from a rejection that came after the press really liking the book. I just looked at my FB posts from that month and they all feature me saying I have no motivation and talking about work. Egads. (I was also teaching FIVE classes. Never again.)
February: Per my dh’s prodding, start reading a lot of Konrath’s blog. Amanda Hocking’s archives. Posted this to FB: “Maybe, just maybe, going to dip my toes into the indie (self) publishing pool….” Also changed my profile pic to this:

Yep, still in a funk. But I also started revising Chapter One. All the way to the beginning again.
March: As step one of my move to self-publish, I bought a Kindle. Hey, I needed it for research! And it was love. Hello, lover. Push a button and buy a book? Why yes, I think I like this very much.
April - May: Reading still, but one article caught my eye: Amazon selling more ebooks than paperbacks. Generally working a sh*tton and dreaming about summer. Bookmarked endless web sites about self-publishing.
June: I hit the ground running! The weekend of Finals Week I treated myself to a weekend away at the Oregon coast, where the order of business was an immediate 3-hour nap, a walk on the beach, and then revision. The rest of the month I revised every day, Sun-Sat. By the end of June, I had only 100 pages left. My FB posts are very telling - I am posting about writing, sunshine, and gardening. Mood has dramatically lifted.
July: This was when it started to become real that I was doing it, I was really going to self-publish. Kai, my cover designer, sent the first mock-ups. I put them up on Facebook to get feedback, and for days I was glued to the computer. My friends and family got really into it and gave me their honest reactions. I could feel my excitement building. Got very close to the end of revision; hubby started to read through it.

August: Visited my parents in the early part of the month. The cover was getting finalized and while there, I started writing back copy, blurb stuff, signing up for accounts, etc. People were asking me when it was coming out, and I kept saying, soon, soon… Mid-month I went camping and when I came back, I proofread like a maniac, making over 800 corrections and edits. Yes, 800. My stomach was the flattest it’s ever been because I was clenching it so tightly; I knew I was getting close. I might have been a bit grouchy. (A smidge. Just ask my husband. I was delightful!)
I formatted for the paperback and ebook (re: the latter, Scrivener saved the day) and then, a day before I went live, my dh suggested a change to the second chapter. In a fit of craziness, I added a new scene and made minor changes, touched up the formatting, and on the night of August 26, I hit “Publish” on Kindle Direct Publishing. When I woke up on the 27th, it was live. LIVE, I tell you! I went up to Portland to see friends and while there two of them downloaded the book and we screamed like little girls, and then like grown-ass women, we drank champagne. It was great. I announced on Facebook and my friends started to buy. I was astounded. This was REAL!
I then proceeded to tear my hair out getting a high-quality PDF for the paperback version. Abandoned the high-quality route and used a regular old PDF which ended up looking just fine.
August 30: I got my first reader feedback! Squeeeeeeeeeeee! “Beautifully emotional.”
September: Vacation, ahhh. Upon our return I received the proof for the paperback version. That went live the middle of the month. I was receiving online reviews (I used a service that matches up anonymous readers with free copies in exchange for honest reviews) that were quite positive and wow, just wow.
October: First book club. Look at this face, I think this tells you how I was feeling:

I am also marketing like a maniac. Constantly submitting review requests, tweeting, facebooking on my writer page, etc. I signed up for a review with the Portland Book Review and wrote to Powell’s asking if they would carry my book.
November: Get the review from the Portland BR. “Boscha has bestseller potential.” YES!!!!! GIDDY. Go to my second book club, which was a blast. Go around to local bookstores. Feeling comfortable, feeling good. Not selling a ton, but happy. Set a goal of having 20 reviews by the end of the year.
December: I hear from Powell’s. They are stocking my book. THEY ARE STOCKING MY BOOK! I receive my 21st review. I drop my ebook price to 99 cents and hope to sell 100 books online. On December 30, I sell my first book on the UK Amazon site. It is also, you guessed it, my 100th sale!!!!! My best month ever; I know some folks sell that many in a day, but for me, this is AMAZING.
I receive my first book blog review that states “With River in the Sea I did not feel like I was reading any less than the best work that this author could put out. The editing was top-notch. The book flowed, grammatical errors and typos were to a minimum, characters were flawed but real, and I really REALLY liked the writing style. So props to Tina Boscha for having an extremely talented group of professionals behind her making her work shine.” This was the first time someone mentioned the quality of the editing, which makes me SO giddy, as my team of pros was me, myself, and I! Really proud of this one.
I’ve also made a ton of friends via Twitter and Goodreads, participated in giveaways, and in general, found a new online community. Feel connected and part of something.
And so here we are, at 10:08 am on Saturday, December 31.
I’m leaving many small victories and dramas out, but thinking about where I was last January and comparing to how I feel now, I can’t even explain the difference. I feel so much more grounded, happy, alive. I feel like I’m doing what I am meant to be doing. I have much to learn, and I haven’t realized my bestseller potential (yet!), and there are times when I need to step back and chill out. But this has been a wonderful experience. I am halfway through the first draft of my WIP, I feel like I might have some momentum building, and I have the greatest group of friends and family who have helped spread the word about River in the Sea.
I recently watched the movie Attack the Block and the characters (15 year old English boys) never said “Trust me” or “Believe me”; instead, their slang was, “Trust!” and “Believe!” I’m sure 2012 will be crazy busy and full of challenges I can’t foresee and that self-doubt will creep in as it inevitably does. And clearly the world is not in the best shape it could be. But in my small corner, I feel ready to move ahead, now that I finally told myself yes, you can, and my wish for everyone in the new year is that you all realize success, however you define it, and that you never stand in your own way.
Amen to that. Trust. Believe.
