PAINTING THE OCEAN: Begin Again

As young campers, we chanted one song ad nauseam. Since I only liked one version — about prey outsmarting predator — I’d often lead us in that one:

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan.

He went fishing with a pin again.

Caught a fish but it flopped back in again.

Poor old Michael Finnegan. Begin again.

We’d repeat it faster and faster ’til we flopped on the ground, gasping like fish.

I’ve felt like a fish out of water for a long time, trying to coerce myself into self-publishing Book Two of my “Annie California” series. I felt the same way before, trying to publish Book One.

Let’s start at the beginning, then begin again.

Back in 2021, I was flopping around on the riverbank, gasping for familiar surroundings. No matter how hard I struggled, even with coffee, I couldn’t complete the task of self-publishing the original book in the series, “Annie California Book One.” Writing a novel that’s both “heartbreaking” (said Mad River Union) and “so funny” (my grandkids) is relatively easy, compared to self-publishing it.

All I needed to do to publish Book One was fill in 263 answers online while obsessively Googling, “Is this legit?” before designing a cover and uploading several priceless objects, pressing “yes,” “approve,” “yes” and presto! a paperback proof would be magically mailed to me.

Then, edits. More coffee. Then, begin again. So why worry?

A friend with a doctorate helped me through the process. I mention her doctorate, because figuring out self-publication was difficult for her, too.

It worked out OK. But once Book One was published, readers told me they expected a second Annie California book momentarily. I’d set up that expectation myself with the darn title that includes the words “Book One,” for heaven’s sake.

Fortunately, I’d already been writing Book Two, titled “Annie California and the Nectarine Grove,” so by the time Book One was published, Book Two was finished in manuscript form.

But just as before, I flopped around for several years, telling myself that self-publishing novels wasn’t any harder than giving birth, paying taxes or letting my cousin pilot my young sons and me over Puget Sound in a vibrating small plane as he shouted over the noise, “Keep looking out for small aircraft!”

Well, guess what? All things are survivable. Including the (glory be!) very-soon-to-be-released Book Two, as well as a revamped Book One. Go, fish, go! If you’re caught, you can be released.

Margaret Kellermann’s two Annie California books launch in January on amazon.com. Or ask your local bookstore to order copies wholesale. Don’t ask about Book Three. Contact Margaret through SN@humsenior.org.