Publication road, with Cheryl Rainfield

Cheryl Rainfield is on a blog tour to promote the paperback release of her popular book, Scars. She is a wonderful person, and an equally wonderful writer! I’m proud today to host a guest post she wrote about her road to publication. What I love about this is that she’s so honest. I’ll let Cheryl do the talking though.

I tend to be shy and an introvert—though I’m getting better at being more comfortable around people—and since I’m also a survivor, there can be triggers for me. So some of my scariest moments have been when I had to put myself out there , live, in front of people, and talk—at my first book launch, my first book signing, my first YA author coffee klatch (going from table to table every 4 minutes to talk to librarians about my books), and going on TV and radio for interviews. What I found each time was that I had a huge amount of anxiety beforehand, and sometimes triggers from the abuse, but once I was actually doing the event I was okay. And afterwards, I felt more able to handle it the next time around.

Another thing I’m going through right now is that my publisher, WestSide, is up for sale. I have two books with them, Scars and Hunted, and I wanted to be sure that they wouldn’t fall through the cracks; I care about my books so much. And I don’t want to lose my editor, Evelyn Fazio; she’s amazing. She not only allows me my voice but also nurtures it (and me), and she gets me as a writer AND as a survivor. I really lucked out with her and with WestSide, who publishes groundbreaking YA fiction, so this has been very scary for me. Yet even as I write, I’m feeling hopeful that another publisher will see how amazing WestSide and my editor are, and snag them up.

Some of my most rewarding moments are the letters I get from readers, telling me how Scars moved them, how it helped them—helped them to understand self-harm, to have more compassion, to know they’re not alone, to talk to someone or to go into therapy, to stop cutting, to not kill themselves. It means so much to me. Those letters feel like treasure to me, and that never goes away—and I get 2-5 reader letters a week. I feel so very lucky!

A huge thank you to Cheryl Rainfield for stopping by my blog.

Below are some links to more information and help for people who might be engaging in self-harm. Cheryl is a fountain of information for things like this, and I am more than happy to help her spread the word.

Reasons Not To Hurt Yourself: http://www.cherylrainfield.com/freebies/reasons-not-to-hurt-yourself-handout.pdf  

Alternatives To Self-Harm: http://www.cherylrainfield.com/freebies/alternatives-to-self-harm.pdf

How To Stop Self-Harming http://www.cherylrainfield.com/freebies/how-to-stop-self-harm.pdf

Helpful Responses to Someone Who’s Self-Harmed http://www.cherylrainfield.com/freebies/helpful-responses-some1-self-harmed.pdf

Here are some bookplates you can download for free as well:
we read to know we’re not alone: http://www.cherylrainfield.com/freebies/bookplate_read-to-know-not-alone.pdf
books are friends: http://www.cherylrainfield.com/freebies/bookplate_books-are-friends.pdf
books find us homes: http://www.cherylrainfield.com/freebies/bookplate_books-find-us-homes.pdf