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My lovely agent, Jill Corcoran, recently suggested to me that I “build more of an online presence.”

An innocuous suggestion, but to my ears, it may as well have been “build an army and overthrow capitalism.”

In other words: a big project.

So here I am today, knee-deep in writing articles, posting on Facebook, emailing back and forth, and Tweeting my heart out, and I just thought I’d take a quick break to ask you writers, artists, or businessfolks out there:

How the hell do you do it?

Moving from the creative and cushy cloud world of illustrating my book, Call Me Perfect, into marketing head space feels like hard edges and scraped shins. Don’t get me wrong, when I get into the flow of a project, I am there, and only there exists. But when I am finished with it, and I take a look at the rest of the list of Things To Do in order to “build more of an online presence” my heart starts beating a little faster.

Tweet

Post

Email

Tweet

Post

Email

And on, and on.

I tell you: I’ll be happy when one day soon I have a team to help me with all of this.

But at least for today, I can check “Blog Post” off the list.

Note from the Editor (That’s me):

Dear reader,

Do you love the world of marketing? Do you get tickled with your PR prowess? I’d love some help in gaining more of an audience and online presence. Let me know if this is something you, or someone you know, might be interested in. ❤

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A few posts ago I mentioned: Body Image.

I was talking about a potential second book to Just Call Me Is. It would focus specifically on body image from a mindfulness standpoint, for tweens.

Well that was about a month or more ago, and now, that book is finished.

At this point I am 90 percent sure I will be doing another Kickstarter for this sequel book, as I did for the first. The only hesitation is that a Kickstarter is a huge undertaking. And I feel like I’ve only just finished asking my friends, peers, and family members to support me.

It’s a vulnerable thing, reaching out like this – especially with material that is so vulnerable and important to me – and especially two times in a row.

It brings up all sorts of insecurities and self-doubts. Will this one be supported in the same way as the last? Will people be so tired of me asking for things that they’ll put up a wall? Should I just – stop?

But then I remember what I’ve learned over the years, not just about the power of vulnerability(thanks Brene Brown), but the art of asking. (Apparently, I watch a lot of Ted Talks.) If the asking comes from a place of honesty, of integrity, and yes, of vulnerability – not of manipulation or selfless inconsideration – you’re at least being as real as you can be.

And in the case of many a Kickstarter, you’re not asking for yourself; you’re asking for your project. Your art. Your expression. You’re asking for help to help the world.

Rather, I am.

Come February, I hope you’ll forgive me when, once again, I make an ask of you. Not for me, but to support a project that I think could really help tweens and teens and one day adults – so that they don’t have to grow up so haunted by body image as you and I did.

I’ll keep you all posted as this (potential/likely/but absolutely terrifying) Kickstater gets further underway.

Love,

Natalie