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Hello, friends! Happy New Year to all of you! I, for one, am especially pumped about 2018. Why? Because this is the year I will self-publish my debut nonfiction book: “Memoirs of a Surgeon’s Wife: I’m Throwing Your Damn Pager into the Ocean”. And let me tell ya, this thing, this passion project of mine, has been a long time coming. I started writing “Memoirs of a Surgeon’s Wife” in 2013 while I was working full-time as a Corporate Communications Manager. It was something I did on weeknights and weekends whenever I could muster the energy and inspiration. Then, life decided to throw me a few more curve balls – namely, pregnancy and motherhood. I didn’t work on the book for a whole YEAR. It wasn’t until my daughter was 15 months old and started part-time day care that I was finally able to turn my attention to my book once again. In less than six months, I finished the first draft. I was elated. I had written a BOOK! To keep things moving, I strategically planned to attend the 2017 San Francisco Writers Conference, which forced me to quickly write my nonfiction book proposal, create and hone my elevator pitch, and research potential literary agents to represent my book. At the conference last February, I pitched my book to several literary agents in person, and received three requests for my manuscript and book proposal, a huge win. I also started tackling a necessity for today’s authors: building an ‘author platform’, or online presence for readers. Most of 2017 was spent in pursuit of this challenging endeavor. I am thrilled to report that I now have nearly 10,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and my email subscribers (and growing). The one thing I was not able to accomplish in 2017 was to contract with a literary agent to represent my work, with the goal of securing a traditional publishing contract. I did have conversations with a few individuals and some positive feedback, but nothing more materialized. I could sit around and moan and whine about it all day, but I won’t. Instead, I’m taking matters into my own hands: I’m self-publishing my memoir in 2018. Have I done this before? Kinda. I mean, I did publish this book, 100 of Your Toughest Business Emails: Solved, so I have some experience.  But taking charge of the complete book production, launch and marketing strategy for a full-length memoir? Nope, haven’t done it yet. Here’s the thing: I’m not worried. I’m beyond-words excited. What I don’t know how to do now I will figure out. I will ask for help when I need it. And I will remember that if something doesn’t seem just a tad bit scary, it’s probably not worth doing. Why, exactly, have I decided to self-publish? Because the very thought of it fills me with joy, honestly. And I want other medical couples out there to know that they can and will get through the training years and the difficult times. So, that’s the big news for 2018. Want to get involved? I will be recruiting an exclusive launch team to help me spread the word about “Memoirs of a Surgeon’s Wife”. These folks will get to read the book before everyone else, will score a free copy, and will be privy to and part of the action behind the scenes of a real live book launch. More on this soon – watch this blog for details. What challenges are YOU taking on this year? Cheers to possibility! You may also like these blogs by Megan Sharma:
It's Here! Get My Free E-Book: 100 of Your Toughest Business Emails: Solved on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks and more Writing tips: What I want to blog about vs. what I actually blog about One year after my major career change from full-time mom to full-time writer: reflections and lessons learned For writers: All your writing fears, squashed! A real, imperfect day in the life of a writer: me Your writing conference checklist: how to make it worth every minute and every penny (takeaways from the 2017 San Francisco Writers Conference) Physician Family guest blog: Does Match Day dictate your destiny? A surgeon’s wife weighs in Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: A word to mothers who aspire to have a surgeon-in-law Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: No, I don’t want no scrubs Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: For the love of Danskos Book preview for When Medicine Meets Holy Matrimony: The other shoe
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