Startled

Hi there, 

One week is past since the experiment started and I am startled and overwhelmed. I started taking part of the three day lasting IndieReCon on Tuesday, a conference set up by and for independent publishers; that means mostly writers who decided not to (or sometimes couldn’t) join the mainstream publisher and sell their books online or by investing their own capital in prints.

I have to admit that I was impressed by the high amount of information. Each hour a new post was charged on the webpage and discussions started nearly 7 minutes afterwards, when the first participants finished reading it. Besides the posts and the discussion boards there were life-chats and video interviews. The days started at 8am and finnished long after 9pm. In only three days I have soaked up so many different aspects of this career, I can barely sum it up and I certainly wasn’t able to digest all of it at a time.

And I think that is actually my major problem right now. Having a wide overview about what is in front of me is certainly positive for a pragmatic and strategic approach, but it did steal the breath out of me: There is so much to learn!

When I read the profiles of the people organizing the conference I feel stuck. How are they able to write and publishing one or two books each year on their own, while still having a regular job and also being a mom/dad? …I wonder if something goes wrong with my interior time perception or my vital energy. How do they do it? Are they exchanging their Duracell’s every 48 hours to continue non-stop? What about the rest of their lives? Don’t they have friends to meet, places they want to visit, other hobbies to experiment? Don’t they ever have a bad day or get sick?

I would be envious, if it wouldn’t appear so surreal to me. I know time is a relative thing, and the more skilled and experienced you get in something, the quicker you are. But even if they are having a high degree of expertise, in order to be able to manage several pages a day, after coming home from work, after having family dinner and after putting their children’s to sleep, it still means a lot, a lot, a huge amount of sacrifice! So yes, what else can I say but merely “respect, ladies and gentlemen!”

But now, in order to not let me down, and not give up after the first week, I need to put myself more concrete goals. I need to concentrate on writing first. How about a short story every week? Is this very daring?

I will try my best.