Emerge: to come forth into view or notice, as from concealment or obscurity
There is a category of writer, which lately I’ve noticed I happen to fall into. It’s called the “Emerging Author.” A few weeks ago, I was fortunate to be included in a fabulous group of local authors at an “Emerging Author Event” at the fantastic FoxTale Book Shoppe in Woodstock, GA. This event featured small press, independently published and self-published writers. It was a great venue to “come into view or notice” as a children’s picture book author (click here to see me hawking my wares).
Over Labor Day weekend, on Sunday, September 1, 2013 at 2:50 p.m., I’ll be briefly speaking about my book (and by briefly I mean 3-minutes!) and doing a book signing at the Decatur Book Festival, in Decatur, GA at the “Emerging Author Pavilion.” The AJC Decatur Book Festival is the largest independent book festival in the country and one of the five largest overall. Over 60,000 people attend the book festival. I feel very blessed to be accepted as one of the local “Emerging Authors.”
The whole idea of being and “Emerging Author” got my mind turning. This concept of “emerging,” along, with my two daughters’ butterfly hatching habitat, had me thinking about my writing journey. Was I bumbling along like a caterpillar, waiting to morph into a writer? Was this part of my DNA?
My chrysalis, or “cocoon” stage, lasted 4 years–from the time I wrote my manuscript for Gia and Lincoln’s Aggravating Allergies to being published. It was during this time that I internally fed my new passion by learning to hone my writing craft, immersing myself in the book publishing world, soaking up book marketing knowledge like a sponge, and crash-coursing my way through social media marketing. And for what? So I could “emerge” out of obscurity onto the author scene as a glorious butterfly, of course.
Most newly published authors will admit they don’t always feel like an author, even though they have a book in the market with his or her name on it. This was true for me. My book was available for purchase for almost 6 months, and even though I had a web page, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account, and blog, I still didn’t consider myself a writer/author. It wasn’t until I was accepted as an “Emerging Author” and got to speak about my book in front of an audience at FoxTale Book Shoppe, that I actually felt like I was a soaring butterfly! And it felt pretty awesome.
Now I just need to figure out how to go from “Emerging Author” to “Best-Selling,” “Award-Winning,” and “Critically Acclaimed.” Wishful thinking, but one can dream! Hopefully this next metamorphosis won’t involve another 4-year cocoon, but I’m patient.
The Allergic Author 