When it gets real...

Fear and trepidation around my first book release

“It’s all good until someone loses an eye”. Have you heard that expression before? It’s so visceral that I recall it well from my youth. As a child, I was curious as to whether anyone actually did lose an eye until my mom introduced me to Mr. Melaney, whose left eyeball was twice the size of his right. Unfortunately, he was hit by an errant snowball, and the rest, as they say, is history. That struck fear into my heart - not that I wasn’t skittish before, but I remember him as a tall, kind man with curly hair and a broad smile. How could such a disastrous event have taken place? Why didn’t he dodge the snowball? I was both awed by and afraid of him, wondering if he somehow tempted fate.

Now that I’m on the verge of releasing my first book, I’m feeling similar misgivings. What’s more unpredictable than putting your work into the world for strangers to critique, or even worse, to ignore. There are scammers, trolls, and worse on the internet, and once the book is launched, it’s “out there”, and so am I as an author. Is there a metaphoric snowball in my future? (not that I’m belittling Mr. Melaney’s condition by comparison). Perhaps, but I’ll never know unless I hit the “publish” button on Amazon. I’m looking forward to it and hope to experience the thrill more than once, yet my inner saboteur is lurking.

Is it any good? Will they like it? What if the reviews are awful! What if there are no reviews? The dastardly devil whispers in my ear, working hard to convince me it’s not worth the risk. Write for yourself…you’ve gone far enough…don’t bother, no one cares. It would be easy to retreat, to tap a few keys and cancel the whole thing, but here’s the rub: I’ll never know unless I hit the “publish” button on Amazon. What I’ve realized through this battle with myself is that it’s not about the snowball; it’s about showing up to play the game. I might get hurt, but then again, I have the memory of Mr. Melaney’s smile to remind me everything will be okay, no matter what.

BOOK LAUNCH: The Super-Computer Caper, Coming up! 🎉🕮

I’m both delighted and terrified to say that my first children’s book will be released on Tuesday, July 4th on Amazon! (Yes, I did shift this back a few days). Thank you to everyone who agreed to review it in advance. I’ll be sending out an email with details shortly. If there are any other willing reviewers, please send me a message in the comments or reach me here: contact. I’m also pleased to announce that for the first week, I will offer it at a reduced rate to my subscribers, so don’t hesitate to pick up your copy. I’ll send out a message with the link on Monday. Feel free to share it with family and friends as well.

Free Resources in the Leadership Literary Lab (L3 Program) ✍️

My Leadership Literary Lab is taking shape with an overview on the services page of my website. This program is designed to help high achievers write powerful, non-fiction books. I have created some free resources for subscribers, including a document called The Ultimate Guide to a Non-Fiction Book Proposal that’s a great way to kick-start a book project. If you and/or your contacts are interested, please subscribe to receive some value-added giveaways and become part of my community. To find out more, click here: L3 Program

In Next Month’s Issue

Killer Nashville Conference news, an update on my work in progress, and a new feature of the newsletter for you!

Warmly, Mary Lynn