Here We Go!

This is my first post! I kinda wanted it to be spectacular, but I’m getting a definite that-may-be-too-much-to-hope-for vibe. Instead, I’ll just tell you where I am and how I got here.

Two years ago in April, I finished writing my first novel. Unremarkable, right? People write novels all the time! I wanted to write one since I was a 14-year-old snotty eighth grader! Except for me, it was the realization of a dream. I did the thing. Finally.

I started this particular novel when my son was just over a year old. When I finished it, he was almost eighteen. It took me seventeen years to write the damn thing. What did I do in the meantime? I had another baby. I went to law school (online, y’all, it’s the way of the future), graduated, studied for and passed the California bar exam. I hauled my ever-growing kids to school. soccer and gymnastics. I worked a job I absolutely loved. And I wrote, occasionally, whenever the mood struck, working on this story and another one.

In 2018, I lost that job I loved so much, and I was devastated. As I looked for a job, and grieved the loss of my old one, I considered the best way to spend the endless days that stretched before me, unsure how I would spend those countless hours without work to fill them. It was two weeks before I said to myself, “Hey, remember that thing you always wanted to do? Do that thing!”

So I did. I carved out writing time everyday, after my job search, working on both stories. By December of that year, it was clear one of them was closer to completion than the other, and I focused all my effort on it. I finished it in April, in the observation area of my daughter’s gym, while she practiced vault with her teammates.

There was still so much work to be done! First, revisions, then beta readers, who made it clear I needed to write a second draft. A second draft that wrecked me; I had rewritten about one-third when self-doubt hit me hard and I had to take a two-week break to get my shit together. By then I was working again (after almost a year and a half), and that provided a self-affirming distraction. I finished the second draft last summer, did another round of revisions, and it’s in the hands of beta readers as I write this; their feedback has been invaluable and largely positive.

What happens next? It’s been pretty clear from my readers that I don’t need a third draft. Thank God…the second draft nearly killed me! But when all the feedback is in, I’ll do a polish and proofread, and when it’s as close to perfect as I can possibly get it, it goes out into the world–and that thought is simultaneously exciting and absolutely terrifying.

How will it get out there? I’ve thought a lot about this, and–for better or for worse–traditional publishing is no longer the only option. A lot of writers are having great success with independent publishing, and this is the route I’ve decided to take, which is ideal for uncompromising, control-freakish me. My goal is to self-publish my novel no later than the end of 2022. Of course, I will share any updates and news here.

So thank you for finding me here and reading this story. What comes next will be quite the journey. I’m happy you’re here to accompany me. It’s gonna be a good time, I think. Until next time, do what makes you happy. That’s how I got here.