Forgetting My Biggest Accomplishment

Sometimes, I forget that I published a novel.

I know, it sounds weird, right?

But it’s true.

A collection of my writing craft books and--oh, what's that there? My novel?

On September 26^th, 2024, I self-published my first novel, Ghosts of the Steel Road. It’s an accomplishment I was and am still incredibly proud of, even though I’ve grown a lot as a writer in the nearly ten months since. And yet, there was a major area in which I fell short: actually talking about said novel on social media.

Given the chaos that was my life, though, I think it’s excusable to say that it was easy to forget my accomplishments.

Last year was my final one for college, and to say it was busy would be an understatement. I was a full-time student who also worked two part-time jobs, and both semesters, my course load was certainly heavier than the number of credits I earned. From having to write endless papers and short stories to being thrown into capstone and an over-ambitious project, I had a massive shortage of free time and energy on my hands. I juggled far too many balls during college, even before my novel was published, and it was inevitable that something would drop.

My life wasn’t short of other excitement, either. Less than a month after publication, I was deep in the midst of the post-grad job hunt, which was thankfully fruitful. My esports department had its own share of events and wins that my team had to cover, and there were many “lasts” that I had to take in.

Then there was one glaring issue: I just don’t know how to market.

Social media has never been my strong suit to begin with. I’m not the kind of person who likes to bring lots of attention to themselves, and I’m very much against showing my face. I’ve tried to read and understand the author marketing books, and I even took a marketing class in my last semester! But, when it comes to marketing myself and my work, I always freeze. I don’t know what to say or if there are lines I may accidentally cross.

So, I often didn’t say anything. And when you don’t say anything about an accomplishment, it’s easy to forget it ever happened.

Now, I’ve finished moving, and it’s back to the writing trenches for me, including the sequel to Ghosts of the Steel Road. With my writing, I also have goals that I listed out in a previous blog post. Part of those goals is to talk about myself and my writing more, even when it feels like I’d rather melt into a corner and never speak again.

Will it be easy? Absolutely not. But at least now, my book is on display in my apartment where I’ll always have to see it.

And I will never, ever again forget that I’ve self-published a novel.