Over the last few months, I have had to say goodbye to my role as the writer of The Black Girl Next Door.  It has been unsettling to say the least.

As long as I was a writer, I had momentum.  With every completed paragraph, page, chapter, and draft I was building one success on top of another. I had grown comfortable as a writer AND I had built a relationship with my project.  I had hit my rhythm and knew a great deal about how to put heat on the page, and even more importantly how to revise my way to it.

With each round of the editing process, I built on what I knew until the point that I could send back corrections well before the deadline, A HUGE ACHIEVEMENT FOR ME!

But, as in all things, we must leave our comfort zone in order to grow.  So at my very strongest, I shipped the galleys back to the editor and had to say farewell to my book while copy editors, typesetters, and proofreaders did their jobs.

Saying hello to my new position as chief promoter in charge of The Black Girl Next Door has been as comfortable as an ice bath on a winter day.

Now I have to develop the “elevator pitch” for the book—that pithy description that will drive readers to the bookstores.  I have to field questions about famous people I know, (answer: none).  I’m talking press releases and postcards.

Don’t get me wrong promotion is a privilege and part of the writing life.  It’s just not the part of the process to which authors devote much thought.

So here’s how I’m comforting myself.  Book promotion, like book writing, is a process and set of skills to be learned.  Every learning process has a learning curve and so I must be kind and patient with myself.

I’m not entirely saying goodbye to myself as a writer, though.  I’ve actually conceived those two new projects I wished for back in February and have been hard at work.

I’ll give more news on those projects in the coming days.