Cindy's Voices: OAG 6 Days Blog-Hop #8

Welcome to the #8 stop of the 6 days OAG blog-hop!!

Visit every blog that participates in this fun blog-hop and collect 12 words hidden in the text of the posts between 6 asterisks.
If you visit every blog on the list at the end of this post and collect the 12 words, you'll have a quote about writing.
At the last stop enter the correct quote in the CONTEST ENTRY form.

The #8 secret word is hidden on this page, in the text, between 6 asterisks.

Find my secret word within this article between 6 asterisks.

Tooting Your Own Horn

Writing a book is hard. Deciding just what words to use, exactly what wisdom or vision you wish to share is a monumental task. As authors, our blood and sweat soak the pages of our work. Every letter is a piece of our being, part of our soul offered to the world.

Our hearts feel every slice as we consider our editor's suggestions. We nip and tuck in hopes of creating a masterpiece. Finally, we proudly press publish and our essence is once more sent into the cosmos. One more book has joined the world's perpetual library. Sighing, we are relieved, believing the hard part is over.

No matter how difficult we found the creation process to be, promotion is worse. Yes, I said promotion! Tooting your own horn! It is a discouraging task. What worked before doesn't any longer. There are so many others trying to get a piece of the pie that you doubt there is enough for you.

Advice is everywhere: "join this group", "get on twitter", "you need a blog", "make a Facebook page". The problem is, everyone is doing all those things. Books are the main post on every website. How do you make yours stand apart from the rest? If you are like me and read a lot, you may even wonder if yours should be out there at all..

It is very hard to find just the right teaser to ignite interest in the masses. For me, I wonder if I have chosen the correct poem... should I share the whole thing?

I never have been one to say anything I did was good enough. I do not want *** are *** to be in the spotlight, in front. I love my poems, each and every one of them. They are all part of me. But, why anyone else would or should, I have no clue.

That being said..

TOOT

I raise my horn up to the sky
Toot my worth, at least I try
But doubt and insecurity fill my head
My notes fall flat, my song is dead
Promotion game shouldn't be so hard
The deck is stacked, who cut the cards?
Fame and fortune not my destiny
But I will write for eternity

All my books can be found: