My Journey, Updated
Yesterday was supposed to be my blog day. And I sat down and wrote 1k+ beautiful words about the dogs that I have loved throughout my life. (It was National Dog Day, whatever that means. But it seemed appropriate.) Then my computer randomly turned off. I have a theory that it somehow knew that Taylor and Travis were about to announce their engagement and was like, “Just forget it. Nothing else on the internet matters today.” But at any rate, off my blog post went into the ether. No amount of chatGPT-led search efforts of the dark corners of my computer could find even a trace. So here we are.
Starting from scratch today, (and already saving several times!) I decided to look at my journey so far as a writer. I did a post like this when I was first starting out, which I was startled to realize was in 2017. Actually, that wasn’t the startling part. The startling part was the realization that 2017 was 8 years ago. Man, time flies when you’re writing, raising kids, and surviving a global pandemic.
Reading over that old post, the excitement in the words of 2017 me is palpable. And why not? She was taking the first bold steps of a new adventure. Starting accounts with “writes” in the name. Joining professional organizations and making the first connections in a new community. It’s like when you move to a new city and even going to the store is exciting because omg - you found the store!
What is in front of that version of me is A LOT of learning. Learning the ins and outs of drafting, research, querying, and of course, rejection. Learning how quickly manuscript wishlists change, and how slowly everything else in publishing moves. Learning the excitement of pitch parties and the defeat of the form pass. Learning to balance writing and being a critique partner with raising four kids. But through all of it, loving the journey and learning to ever so tentatively call myself a writer.
It’s wild to me that like so many other writers, the idea and the manuscript that got me started is long shelved. I’ve even mostly moved away from picture books, for now. I would love to eventually see some of my pb manuscripts published. But I surprised the heck out of myself by writing a middle grade novel and I feel like I’ve thrived in that genre more than anything else. I’ve had three full requests, out of less than twenty queries over the last few years. (Unfortunately, my writing really took a backseat as my kids have gotten busier.) The awesome thing about fulls is that those rejections usually come with meaningful feedback and I am SO thankful for that. The agents who ultimately passed gave me direction to complete this round of edits and as soon as I do, I’m very excited to get back into the trenches.
I’m not going to make a bullet list this time of all the things I’ve completed so far on my writing journey like I did in that post in 2017. I’ll just say, I have every faith that it had to happen this way. When I got my first “like” on a Twitter (yes, so long ago it was still Twitter) pitch party and it turned into a request for more work, I was so very green. I was not at all ready. I’m glad the agent saw that. I think it was probably painfully obvious, ha. But if she hadn’t, I never would have branched into middle grade or worked so hard to hone my craft.
So instead of a list of things I’ve done, I’ll end with a list of goals. Things I really hope I’m able to accomplish now that I am able to focus on writing full time.
· Finish edits on Life, By Nat and begin querying
· Reengage with 12 x 12 and flex those picture book muscles again
· Query with some of my better PBs
· Become more involved with SCBWI on a local level
· Attend at least one virtual or in-person (eeeek!) conference
Here’s hoping I can live up to these goals and that you all will hold me accountable. I truly feel I’m moving closer to my dream of being published every day.
