Book-iversary Wisdom from a Newbie Author

In which I write a much-too-long blog that may or may not be helpful to new authors...

Tomorrow is the one year book-iversary of my debut YA novel, HOW (NOT) TO FALL IN LOVE, published by Entangled Teen. In some ways it feels like it was much longer than a year ago, and in other ways it feels like yesterday.

Finished book and some (not all) of the drafts...

Before I was published, I was always hungry for inside deets from authors who were further along their publishing journeys than me, so today I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learned in the two years since I contracted my first book. One caveat: in the ginorumous wild west playground that is currently the publishing biz, please note that I’m still a newbie, not quite crawling like a baby but definitely not an advanced marathoner- yet.

Since my first book debuted one year ago, my publisher has also released my second novel, a YA rom-com titled PLAYING THE PLAYER and will release my third book, a YA romance titled THE REPLACEMENT CRUSH, in September, 2016. Additionally, I’ve contracted with Entangled Teen for three more contemporary YA romances to be published by their “Crush” imprint.

I don’t tell you all of that to sound like a braggy-pants (as my son used to say), but instead to share the "why" behind my most important “to do” for new writers:

KEEP WRITING!! 

Once that first novel is polished and making the rounds to agents and editors, start a new book! And once you finish that one, start another. Keep notes for all of your brilliant book ideas because there will come a time when your editor and/or agent will ask, “What else have you got?” And you want to be ready when that happens.

CELEBRATE EVERYTHING!

Seriously- don’t skip this step. Writing is a hard, lonely, ego-killing, soul-eating business. But we do it anyway because it’s also amazing, joyous, transportive, addicting...and we pretty much have no choice if we’ve been bitten by the writing bug. Celebrate finishing that first ugly draft because it’s the hardest one. Then celebrate again when you finish your first round of revisions and it’s not so ugly anymore. Passed it off to your critique partners and beta readers? More celebrating. Came up with a great list of potential titles? Woo hoo! (and can I borrow your title brain?). Did a reader tweet you their five-star review of your book? Air hug them- and celebrate. Did you get one of those amazingly rare specimens- actual fan mail written on paper sent with actual postage? Wow! Hang that baby on the wall!

COMMUNITY

You really need friends in this business- other writers who get the crazy. This is one I’m still working on. I’m very shy, and introverted is my middle name, but I do have long-time writer friends and critique partners who I can lean on, whine to, and cry with in a pinch. One of my goals for this year is to expand my network, to put on my extrovert hat when attending conferences and reader events, to not be so stinking shy all the time and show more of the real me online. I envy those rare birds who are extroverted writers, and if you are one- good for you! You’ll find the whole social and marketing side of the business much to your liking. (And maybe you can say hi to me if you see me hiding in a corner at a conference.)

I have blabbed way too long (which would hardly shock my editor) so I’ll wrap it up:

KEEP WRITING!

CELEBRATE!

FIND COMMUNITY!

And finally- don’t give up. If you really, really want this, don’t stop. I did stop, for way too long, and I’ll always regret it. Life’s too short to add "giving up on a dream" to that sack of regrets we all carry around, so keep going!

I look forward to hearing about your book-iversaries some day!