I’m just going to go ahead and assume this is a safe space to write about writing woes. Is it too cliche? Maybe. But you know what’s also cliche? The quote about how cliches are cliches for a reason.

Anyway. I’ll spare you the same old same old about writer’s block and routines and the chaos of life. You get it! I’m in a later stage of panic. I have, somehow and against all odds, managed to put together a little manuscript that I actually love. Most of the time. Sometimes I’m convinced it’s the worst! But you get that too. I’m not here to yap about imposter syndrome. I’m here to get a little catharsis out of bitching so I can get to finishing the work.

Unfortunately (fortunately?) the work right now isn’t writing – it’s all the things that come after. It’s time to pitch. Or do I want to self-publish? This particular project is a niche little thing. A multi-genre chapbook of poetry, short fiction, and visual art. Photos and drawings. Which is already a tough sell for most publishers. Perhaps it was incorrect to refer to this book as niche – it is in fact counter-niche I guess. Not niche enough. Most presses want a cohesive genre. Lots of poetry publishers don’t publish visual art. On the plus side, the theme is coherent. It’s a love song to the natural world. It’s inspired by every wild place I’ve ever stepped. It has a lot of big feelings about those places.

Is there a market for something like that? Who the heck knows. I have a couple places in mind to submit queries to. I’d like to think I’m not intimidated by rejection, but of course I’m human. And I’ve never put so much of myself into a project like this. The idea of self-publishing isn’t really appealing to me, but I’m wholly aware that there’s a decent amount of unwarranted bias in that feeling. Plenty of talented writers have self-pub’d for any number of reasons. There’s plenty of reasons why self-publishing would actually be ideal for this particular project. Although, it’s possible that therein lies the rub. It would be wonderful to put this thing into the world exactly as I imagine it. But – that would also be a lot more work.

Though, potentially less work than writing query letters – which is somehow the most difficult kind of writing of all. For me at least. But, I do enjoy type-two activities so. We’ll see.

Anyway. Thanks for hanging around for my vague ramblings. I appreciate you.