First Day by Bethany Kennerman

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life...." It's a cheesy, over-used saying, I know, but completely appropriate for today. I have trampled my fear and begun my journey, effective today. My email is done. My Wix account is done. My phone number is done. The cover for my book is chosen, at least as a starting place. And my sample chapters have been long done, long overdue for review from the publishing world. My Beta readers have long approved of them, the extra readers--all men--have each approved, so all the lights are green and here we go.

My goal today is to build the portfolio website. This address will be included on my postcard that I will order by the end of tomorrow. The postcard will be my handout for the AWP conference I will attend next weekend in Los Angeles. I need something physical to give to people who may be interested--agents, publishers, readers--something that will refer them to the sample chapters, the overview, and give them a tidbit of what this book has to offer.

I know it sounds like I know what I am doing, and in some ways I do, but in many I do not. One of my favorite movie quotes is from the original Indiana Jones flick where Joes is jumping on a horse to charge off across the desert. His Arab friend asks him, "Indy, what are you going to do next?" and Indy answers, "I don't know...I am making this up as I go along!"

So maybe I am making this up as I go along. My goal is to be a published author, preferably a traditionally published author, but I am open to other avenues including self-publishing. Do I need an agent? Probably. Do I want to release control to anyone else of my words, my work, my story? Definitely not. So we'll see how today goes, and tomorrow, and the next day. But today? It's the first day. It's day one of Bethanykennerman.com. And it's a good day.