If Publishing Was a Goddess
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Four Stages of Publishing seen through the lens of the Four Stages of the Divine Feminine. Inspired by Donna Henes, author of Queen of My Self.
This was written for my course, She Who Scrivens…and Publishes (Being Your Own Queen of Creativity), which launches today at the Glastonbury Goddess Conference.
The idea of looking at publishing in these four stages was inspired by the theme of the conference (Tribal Star Queen), and Donna Henes (Mama Donna), an old friend and keynote speaker at the conference. She was the first to adapt the triple goddess paradigm to include a new aspect: Queen. She introduced this in her book, Queen of My Self. I remember chatting with her about this about 10 years. One of the things that stood out was that she talked about how women birth many things, not just babies, and they may also birth books! So thanks for the inspiration for this adaption of publishing seen as stages of the Goddess and stages of life.
1.Maiden
In this phase we see the initial seeds of the ideas for your book as they begin to become implanted inside your mind and soul.
This is the period arousing the new energy of new beginnings. The idea for the book begins to percolate in your life.
You write down lists, journal entries and ideas. Inspiration fills you. You have the urge to sit down and write.
You may begin researching publishers or finding an agent. You may begin the learning process of self-publishing. You will begin to lay down the groundwork for your project to grow.
2. Mother
Next, the book baby begins to grow from your womb of creativity and you are actively nurturing it by doing research, looking at other books in the marketplace, and writing your book.
But still, you incubate it inside you, keep it safe within you, before finally, word by word, sentence by sentence, page by page, you birth your book.
Immediately after birth, you will move forward to protect and nurture your creation, through phases of editing, proofreading, copy editing, and perfecting.
Making sure you are ready to share your baby with the world.
3. Queen
In this stage you begin to rise up into the power of your publishing sovereignty and from that place make decisions about bringing your baby out into the world, fully formed, where you can reign in your part of the universe and be know as Queen of your writing domain.
You take full responsibility for your publishing journey and seek to create the level of success you desire.
You may command an agent or book contract, or put together your own team so that it is edited, proofed, formatted, and has a beautiful cover you will be proud to share and show off.
Whether self-published or traditionally published, you will begin the process of promoting the book, through ads, newsletters, social media, and public relations and you will stand up in the world as an expert on your topic.
You will publish your book in your own part of the world and also release it internationally so that you can extend your reach and establish your realm in publishing.
4. Crone
Here you will begin to wind down your outer activities and pull deeper within, to recognize all you have learned on your journey. And you will also further claim your place as a wisdom teacher in this field. If some of your writing was researched and studied, in this phase you will embody it and speak it from your highest self.
While always acknowledging your sources, you will also more full find your voice. And then, when this integration process is complete you may think of your next book, and start the process all over again.
