Tuesday 11 September 2012

We heaved and pushed and made it over the finish line

When I first heard of the words "blog tour" I didn't know what they meant. How was I going to tour around with people who live millions of miles from me? Then I was added to the secret group and besides feeling specially selected, I was bewildered. But Tasha, helpful as she always is, answered all the questions through her posts and clarified all my confusion. Now I was excited. Sure, I had a blog, actually I had two, but I didn’t know what to post about half of the time, and the other half I was rambling stupidly.
Now, a participant in a real live blog tour, I was posting on a weekly basis and writing too. Tasha provided the topics or sent us in search of them and I will admit there were several times that I was going to quit; hand in my honorary blog tour badge and sit with my lip hanging- defeated. But, I didn’t, I made it through 16, yes SIXTEEN weeks of a blog tour, writing a post for every one of those 16 weeks. Sure, they were not always on time, because I don't do PC time on the weekends, my glorious little angel demands my attention on Saturdays and the hubby on Sundays and when I am not showering them with attention I am busy in my little business. But I would still hurry into my office on a Monday morning and tap at the keys trying to bleed some words out for my guest post.
Of course the journey was not without its bumps. I have, in my eleven years of being employed, worked with all sorts of people and so I wasn't surprised to meet some on this tour who didn't keep up their end of the bargain. I do understand that all sorts of things arise in our lives to keep us from keeping deadlines, but if you can update your facebook status every ten minutes you can quickly leave a message in the TTC-VBT group informing the organisers that you won't be making this week's post. However, I know it didn't affect me half as much as it affected Tasha, who is a real trooper for having such patience with all the participants.
I, on the other hand, peeped out of my shell and trotted along the path, week by week, bringing myself out a little more every week until I slowly made it, at my own pace, over the finish line. I am a very shy and introverted person, who would not approach another person about guest posts, but after this blog tour you can bet I will be doing that now. The tour taught me how to seek out people who write in my genres and how to trade with them, a post for a post. I made a lot of new friends too. I also learnt how to post regularly by doing flash fiction and getting my readers involved in my WIP, also a way to promote it before it is released.
I wasn’t like the legend Usain Bolt, instead I stumbled down the path like an awkward child, falling down every now and again, to have Tasha pick me up brush me off and send me on my way again. But I was glad that along the way I got to meet a lot of wonderful people, like Tara Chevrestt; who I am in awe of because of her ambition to write and release romance novels, I think I kind of stalk her now on her progress and I tell myself, get going on your work, look how many books Tara has coming out. She has become somewhat of a role model for me.
I already knew that Ellie Mack was a straight talker and an avid blogger and was pleased to host one of those very "kick in the butt" posts.
I was inspired by Linda Bolton's blog and how she keeps all her posts about romance in keeping with her genre.
Bruce Blake and Doug Simpson got me interested in their novels and after acquiring On Faithful Wings in a free giveaway, I am now reading it and quite intrigued to see where the story is going.
Nikki Noffsinger taught me about vanity presses and I was very grateful for that lesson.
I learnt how to create author interview questions, and how to write author spotlights, things I knew nothing about before this tour.
I made it to the end because I didn’t want to be one of the persons who disappointed Tasha. Every time I thought of dropping out I thought about the fact that I wasn’t doing so because my schedule was packed, or I had more pressing and important things to do, but was doing so because I didn’t believe I could do it, and then I would go read the posts in the group and there was always an encouraging word from Tasha; offering tips on how to do the post, where we can inspiration from, inviting persons who were encountering problems to share the problems so she could work with them and so much more. I made it to the end of this tour without missing a post because of Tasha Turner’s encouragement, leadership and support. She is not only a brilliant and magnificent individual; she is also a great leader, guide and friend.
So now I congratulate myself for making it here and I hope I can continue to post at least weekly, using the knowledge I have acquired from the blog tour and keep all you new supporters on my blog entertained.
Thanks for the experience Tasha and all those who participated.

2 comments:

  1. Great job Anjie!! It has been a joy getting to know you better on this tour. I have to admit, I too am enamored with Tara, a very wise, wonderful woman. YOu have brought to light in your "victory lap" blog things that I wish I had given voice to. Darn, now I'm jealous.
    Having been in the workforce for *cough* many, many years I agree that there are those you nearly expect to quit and not fulfill their commitments. There were a few surprises along the way, meeting wonderful people like yourself is one of them!!

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