MM Hurley

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my readers.

Tomorrow is the day of hearts, and I’m just loving the fact that I don’t have to work and deal with angry people who waited til the last minute to buy their treats. But that is the life of a cashier at a dollar store employee.
Anyway…

But with the arrival of Valentine’s Day, means we are only 16 days away from release day. Release day. A day I have dreamed about forever. A day that I’m not sure I’m ready for. But a day that is quickly approaching.

I’ve been doing my best to keep posting daily. I’m averaging about 100 views of my TikTok videos. A few have gotten more than that, but I haven’t had anything viral or impressively large numbers. But honestly, hitting a video with over 400 views made me so happy. For real, anything over zero makes me excited. In my mind, I have a huge case of imposter syndrome mixed with the gut feeling of why should anyone care.

My to-do list is now down to very minor things, and I think that I’ve done all I can do to make the best first book. It’s taken two years to get to this point. I know I’ve learned a lot, but also there is still so much to learn about self-publishing and writing in general.

One thing I know is the next book will have to have a professional editor. I’m forever grateful for my bestie editor. But if I am going to continue down this road, I’m going to have to take that burden off her shoulders. (I’m still going to ask for her opinions and edits.)

Now, just for the blog right now…my official photo.

Amongst the many things on my to-do was getting an official photograph. My fabulous sister is my official photographer. I think it turned out as good as it could be, seeing as it was my face and I am my own worst critic. This will be on the back cover of the book. And I’ll be switching all my profile photos on my social.

Journey/Thoughts/Comments/Q&As
via a list

1. I won’t use AI to write or edit. I will use it to generate pictures. I have an account with Fotor. I use it to make graphics for my volunteer work. This website does have graphic generation using key terms. This is how I have made character photos for my story. (I embedded a cool TikTok I made for a visual look at my characters.) This is just how I see them. I just want to share that vision with everyone.
2. I didn’t do beta readers. Not really. I had my story in the hands of a few people to read and ask opinions from. But I never did have any paid/assigned/official readers or deals with people to read and review. I’m not sure if that will be a problem or not. I do want people to get my book in their hands. I do want readers to review it. But I don’t know how that typically works. I don’t know if that is a requirement or something that happens naturally. This is one of the things that I’m nervous about.
3. I set up my IngramSpark account today. Now I have to figure out how to get my book ready for publication through that as well. And I need to get the right format for my ebook. I don’t know why, but I hate the way it looks currently. There are these huge spaces and some of my graphics (title page headers/etc) are not showing up. That’s going to be a problem for Friday though.
4. Fun Fact: The book is two from two POVs. The first POV is Emmeline. You will see the world through her eyes, hear her inner monologue, and feel her emotions. The other viewpoint is that of Joseph. I haven’t talked much about Joseph on my blog or videos because the book is named after Emmeline. But Joseph is also extremely vital to the narrative. He’s important to Emmeline. But not a romance. This book has love in it. (like on the edge and only as in there are couples.) But Emmeline would sink without Joseph. And I can’t wait to share more about that later.
5. What happens next? Right now I’m focused solely on book one. But after release day. I’m going to take a deep breath, a mini-mental vacation, and then head into book two: The Education of Emmeline Jones. While my editor had the book, I started the rewrites of book two and had to lay it to the side as the work needed to be on book one. The goal is to have it prepared for release by March 2026. Earlier if possible, but goals are flexible and I’ll change as needed. But after release day (and a kind of break) it will be all hands on deck for book two.

Okay, that’s enough on this list. Thanks for reading!
Release day: March 1st

@mm_hurley

thanks to the amazing technology of AI. I have some generated photos of my characters. meet Katy, Shawn, Emmeline, Lydia, Joseph, Ethan and Emmeline again with her mask. #indieauthor #bookcover #debutnovel #aspiringauthor #proofcopy #aspiringauthor #debutnovelrelasing #momlife #author #themaskofemmelinejones #ai #characterdesign

♬ original sound – Tie Dye Tammy

Thanks for following on with the journey.