Bet you didn’t know that your finished book is just the tip of the iceberg…below the surface is the massive task of marketing on social media.

The photo you see of me was taken in Panama fifty years ago. I was seventeen. Wow. Just writing that throws me into panic mode.

If writing and publishing your life story is on your bucket list, here are five things to keep in mind as you begin your journey.

Today is Father's Day and there will be a constant stream of posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, videos on YouTube, and even dance routines on TicTok, all celebrating the great dads of the world.

This post is for those whose dads were less than stellar.

While my desire has been to share my book journey toward publishing with as much transparency as possible--including detailing and revealing every success or failure--the roller coaster of events that played out almost daily this past week gave me pause for thought.

Yeah, that's me smiling. Happy that I wrote my book. Happy that I signed with a great agent. But completely oblivious to the work ahead.

While the view outside was serene, the ten writers, including myself, were getting a good thrashing inside by our mentor, who, after listening intently to our unrehearsed pitches, proceeded to eviscerate our work.