Now that I've had a couple of free hours to chill out and incubate on all that I learned at the San Francisco Writer's Conference, I am ready to share. I went through all of my notes, as well as the things I have figured out on my own, and complied a 2 page list!

I did this for me. Being that I am a middle-aged, paramenopausal woman whose memory is not what it once was, I was afraid that by the time I finish my next book I will have forgotton how the hell I published the first one!

And since this list is going to save me in about 9 months, I thought it might be helpful to any of you who might consider self publishing your masterpiece in the future.

So here it is. 20 Days. 20 Parts.

PART 1 - Write A Book!

Huh huh huh... No duh! But really—this is the most important part. You need to have a book to publish. I met countless writers last weekend who have stalled in the writing of their book. They had a million excuses. I know each of those excuses intimately because I used them myself during most of 2011. 

I think if we were all really honest, there is only one thing that stops us from writing our word count every day: FEAR. That is it. Ultimately, we are just plain scared shitless that our novel is going to suck ass when it is done...or that it already sucks ass, so why bother.

But the bottom line is, you want that book to be done more than anything else.

So now that we are honest about our fear, there should be nothing stopping you from writing. Challenge yourself to write THE WORST NOVEL EVER, then sit down and finish your book! Trust me. It will not be the worst ever. It may end up being mediocre, but it will be completed! And that alone will seriously get your rocks off.

So sit down and write. Sit down and finish!

Shannan

We live in the fiction.

Photo  tori hoover