First Comes Love

What is the most important element to writing a book? The one thing you must have?

Is it talent? Knowledge? Marketing chutzpah? Dedicated writing habits?

All of these matter a great deal but they’re nothing without passion.

As my colleague and friend Jenna pointed out in a post on the Girl Friday blog not long ago, the writing process is a long one. And the publishing process—that of bringing the book you labored so hard to create to the world—makes it longer yet. Combined, it can feel relentless and endless: a process that almost certainly takes years, perhaps many of them.

Being a writer is a life’s work. It takes years of practice and study (also known as reading) to hone your craft. Being an author is another deal entirely: this is a the business end of books and many people who write books—memoirists with one extraordinary story to tell, subject matter experts, politicians—are not writers primarily. But one thing all authors must share is an abiding passion for their book.

The good news is that you’re not entirely alone in this: you can and should enlist many people to help you along on your journey. Right now for instance, between my agent, my editor, my in-house marketing and publicity team, my hired publicist, and various industry friends that are offering their support (god bless them), I have a veritable village working with me to bring my book to the world. And that is a beautiful thing. Part of the dream of landing a traditional publishing deal is that other people are investing in your book because they believe in it. Some things didn’t change so much post book deal—I still get up to write in the mornings, I still go to work, I’m still me—but this was one huge thing that did. As I said to a friend recently: after being the only one carrying the lonely torch of my writing aspirations all these years, suddenly having other people care about my book—not about me but about the book itself—is a revelation. In this way my writing life feel markedly different.

And yet.

I continue to care more than all of them, and that’s exactly as it should be. Being a writer is tough stuff, it almost certainly involves quite a lot of rejection and disappointment before any kind of real success can be found. And life will always try to crowd writing out. I’m busy, you’re busy, we’re all busy. Can we just agree on that? America is too busy and too obsessed by being busy, so it’s not likely to change anytime soon. This is a topic for another day—but it’s a certainty that you will have many demands on your time other than writing. So what will bring you there? What will inspire you to wake up earlier than you need to? Devote hours of your weekend? The world is indifferent to whether you write or not, I promise you.

And this is the thing you can never outsource. Even if you’re one of those authors I mentioned—the non-writer authors—you still need to have a passionate drive to see your story told. The author is at the molten core of any book project: and if they lose steam at any point in the process that Jenna so elegantly laid out? That project is doomed.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many experts you hire, how much fancy software you purchase, or impressive degrees you amass: You absolutely must feel the love.  

Cover Reveal!

I couldn't be more thrilled to share the cover for Losing the Light! It feels utterly surreal to see my name on something that looks like it belongs to a real book: and not only that, a book I I would immediately pick up if I saw it on a table at a bookstore. Where it will be, in about six months time. 

The months of waiting for your debut novel to come out are strange and wondrous: with every step in the process--the copyedit, choosing a title, the first pass pages--inching you ever closer to the dream you've been holding onto for all these many years. 

In addition to my cover, I have another fun piece of material to share: a video that my friends over at Book Country put together for me. Enjoy! 

Letting it Go

I first began working on the novel that is now The Sojourn thirteen years ago when I was a senior in college. (That sentence makes me want to go take a nap). Many, many other things happened in my writing life and actual life between now and then, of course, but the novel was always with me: as I wrote other novels, as I moved across the country and back again, loved, lost, tried several times to get published. These characters had staying power. Many of the details—probably a majority of them—have changed over the years, but Brooke, Sophie, and Alex have remained the book’s beating heart.

Now I’m in the process of reviewing first pass pages. The book is laid out as it will look on the page—seeing the words like this feels something like what I imagine seeing one’s daughter in a wedding dress would. My baby, all grown up.

First pass pages are my last real opportunity to make changes before my novel goes out into the world in March, and in galley form before that. Many very talented people have helped the book get to this point—my mentor Pat Geary (perhaps the only other person who has read every previous incarnation of the novel) my GFP editor, Amara, my agent, Carly, my Atria editor, Sarah, the copyeditor, etc. (Can you tell I’m working on my acknowledgements?). Now is the time for final touches, and then it’s done. Then I enter into that bargain with readers—critics included—that the book now belongs to them, belongs to the world. Brooke and Sophie and Alex will have to speak for themselves.

We all have to grow up someday.  

Handling Criticism

Last week I came upon yet another story about an author losing his mind over a bad review. (You can read through the debacle here if you have some time to kill.) The indie author in question went absolutely hysterical on a reviewer who left him a one star review, eventually resorting to calling her (and everyone else who jumped into the fray) the scum of the earth, accusing them of heartlessly sabotaging his career.

Lest you think this kind of behavior is limited to the Wild West world of Indie publishing, be assured that it isn’t. Not long ago bestselling author Ayelet Waldman threw a very public fit, not over a bad review but over the perceived snub of her latest novel not being included on the New York Times “Most Notable Books” list. Author Kathleen Hale actually stalked a reviewer and then wrote about it in a piece on The Guardian that is both compelling and cringe-worthy.  

Hale mention in the piece that Goodreads is aware of the the potential downfalls of letting authors and readers connect so directly. They issue the issue the following warning to authors who attempt to comment on reviews of their own work: 

“We really, really (really!) don’t think you should comment on this review, even to thank the reviewer. If you think this review is against our Review Guidelines, please flag it to bring it to our attention. Keep in mind that if this is a review of the book, even one including factual errors, we generally will not remove it.

“If you still feel you must leave a comment, click ‘Accept and Continue’ below to proceed (but again, we don’t recommend it).”

Most writers are sensitive people and having one’s work in the world can feel excruciatingly vulnerable. Feeling frustrated, pissed-off, and distraught over a bad review is absolutely understandable. Especially in this new world where “critics” include not only educated readers at papers of record with actual codes of conduct, but basically anyone with an internet connection and an axe to grind. And yet, reviews are never meant to be a dialog—no matter how bait-y they appear—and any author who does engage, loses almost by default. There is virtually no way to respond (at least publicly) to a review and come out looking good, the very act of doing it is petty. Putting art into the world for public consumption, you are opening yourself to criticism and it is a bargain that you must accept. This does not include, by the way, personal attacks. Your looks, your character, your worth as a person, shouldn’t be up for scrutiny. But reactions to your work? The good, the bad, and the ugly are all fair game.

So what’s an author to do?

Not reading reviews is an option. Gretchen Rubin, a bestselling author many times over, doesn’t read hers. I admire the discipline of a writer who can do that; I can imagine where that would be healthier than the alternative. I have a feeling that my curiosity would get the best of me though, and besides, if you never read the reviews, you also never get to hear the good.

It’s also worth remembering that getting reviewed in the first place is a privileged position. Many authors’ work—even that which comes from venerable publishing houses—is roundly ignored by the media. If there’s anything worse—or at least just as bad—as a bad review, it’s silence. 

The lucky writer has been through years—maybe decades—of rejection by the time they are receiving—or not receiving—their first reviews. They’ve forged an iron belief in themselves, they’ve built a resilience that can’t be shouted down. They’re determined to carry on no matter what. I like to think I’ve done some of that work over this last decade.

All the same, I might go ahead and stay off of Goodreads.

The Gift of Waiting

Pursuing a professional career as a writer involves a lot of waiting. My agent Carly wrote a great post a few weeks ago about what to do when you’re waiting for something to happen in publishing: waiting for your novel to come out, waiting to hear back from agents, waiting for reviews to come in. Her advice is on-point; twiddling your thumbs and obsessing over parts of the publishing process you can’t control (read: most of it) is crazy-making. I’m pretty good at keeping myself occupied, but lately, I’m trying to cultivate an appreciation for the “waiting” part.  

It’s too easy to become overly focused on the next goal in your life and let the days rush by in a hurricane of to-do lists and busyness. We barrel through the days and weeks towards the next milestone: whether it’s a promotion at work, an artistic pursuit, or a step forward with our romantic partner. We’re a culture that prizes doing. Waiting? Being? Those we struggle with. Okay, I struggle with those things. I like to do, I’m proactive, persistent, disciplined. All good things. To a point.  

“Busy” has become the ultimate place to hide in our culture. Absorb yourself in work, in tasks, in accomplishments, and people won’t question you. You’re doing stuff, lots of stuff, you’re on it, in fact, you are all over it.

It’s easier to pinpoint the wrongness of this in the rearview than it is in the moment. I think back on the summer I was working on my first novel (or rather, the first one I tried to get published). I was still living in New York then, and it would be sweltering already when I woke up at 6:30 to write before work. I’d go down to Dunkin Doughnuts every morning and get a big iced coffee to keep me company; the guy at the counter soon begin to recognize me and start making my coffee the moment he saw me walk in the door. I was still many years away from a book deal—and it wouldn’t be for the novel I was working on then—but it was the happiest summer I spent in New York. Those mornings at my desk, ice coffee sweating bullets through its plastic cup, I was full of purpose. I was, for the first time in my newly-minted adult life, being a writer.

I just turned thirty-three a few weeks ago. The thirties are a decade full of huge potential milestones both personal and professional: you’re supposed to hit your stride in your career, but also get married, buy a house, have some kids. Maybe none of these things are on your list, but I suspect you’ve got something equally ambitious in the other direction on deck in that case: travel the world, write all the books, build your own canoe, run a marathon.

My novel doesn’t come out for almost a year. Sometimes that feels like forever, and yet that on-sale date will arrive before I know it. On the personal side, I’ve been with my boyfriend for over a year, and we have lots of proper, grown-up, settled down plans for the next few years. Lots of milestones to hit, lots of things to do.

But right now, in this moment, it’s a seventy degree spring day in Seattle and those I love are safe and sound. I have a book on the horizon and a man I love by my side. It’s a pretty good place to be.  

Essential Blogs for Writers Part Two: Book Blogs

There are many roads to becoming a writer. But whether you’re an autodidact or an MFA candidate, one thing you surely are if you aim to become a writer is a passionate reader. Regardless of what structures we employ to sharpen our craft, consuming as many books as possible is a necessity.

There are all kinds of ways to find your next good book: your local bookstore, your favorite magazine (The books section in O Magazine is half the reason I subscribe), your bookish friends, social media, and of course, blogs. The latter has been an underutilized source for me, a problem I’d like to remedy. The world of books is vast, and the more diverse your sources of discovery, the better informed you will be.

The world of book blogs can feel overwhelming, but engaging with the passionate souls who tend them is worth the effort. Book blogs often don’t use the stringent review structure of more traditional review sections like The New York Times so it’s important to find those with an approach and voice that suite your tastes.  

If you’ve dipped a toe in the world of book blogs, you’ve likely heard of places like The Rumpus, Book Riot, and Bookslut. Here are five slightly lesser known site I love:

Beth Fish Reads: A well-written and extremely savvy book blog from a freelance book editor, reviewer, and journalist. In addition to reviews, interviews, and guest posts from authors, she has a weekend cookbook feature and Imprint Fridays, where she focuses on the offerings from a specific publishing imprint. This blog is as well-curated as it is delightful.

Liz & Lisa: The blog of co-authors and lifelong best friends Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke is a great stop if you love contemporary women’s fiction. These are the gals you wish would start a book club in your neighborhood. You won’t find critical reviews here, they save their space for the stuff they love and want to recommend. They cover most traditionally published work, but occasionally will cover some of the self-published gems, which can be especially hard to get wind of. Chick lit with plenty of brains and heart is what these gals are all about.    

She Reads: Founded by authors Marybeth Whalen and Ariel Lawhorn in 2009, what started as an online book club has become a thriving community hotspot featuring book recommendations, author interviews, book discussion, and book-related recipes. If you’re looking to win your next book club meeting (and why wouldn’t you be?) this is the place for you.

Book Patrol: Managed by Seattle-based longtime bookseller Michael Lieberman, this site features not only the standard reviews and interviews, but a host of other bookish delights from Hemingway-inspired t-shirts to vintage cover art, and much more. It’s the internet equivalent of spending an hour roaming around your favorite quirky local bookstore.

The Book Wheel Blog: This blog features mostly book content with a dash of pop culture, all written in the author’s fun, approachable style. Blogger and book lover Allison (who works as a shark conservationist) is like that unpretentious friend you can both discuss literary fiction with but also won’t judge you for watching Bravo. And she knows about sharks so…not going to lie, I just kind of want to have brunch with her.

Next up: Blogs to Help You Manage Your Life (so you can make time for writing)

Bouncing Back From Rejection

In honor of March Madness—which is currently taking over my household—I want to talk about a key skill that even couch potato writers can learn from sports: resilience. As an athlete, you work long and hard for your chance at glory on the court—just as you toil away for years as a writer—and it’s devastating to have a big moment slip through your fingers. In both cases, the time you show your mettle is after the tough loss. Do you give up? Or do you get right back in it? Okay, maybe you cry into a beer in your tennis uniform first and then you get back in it.

As a seasoned rejection-getter, here’s a look at my playbook:

Practice

The more you send your work out, the easier it will become to take that step and make yourself vulnerable to rejection. When I queried agents for my first novel years ago, I cried every single time I got a rejection letter. I was so nervous awaiting their responses that when I got a negative one, it sent me into a mini tailspin.

When I was looking for a new agent this past summer, it struck me how much easier it had become. When I got a rejection letter, I felt a small stab of disappointment and thought “Okay, they’re not the one. Moving on.” Partly this was because I felt better about my work than I ever had before—just as in sports, nothing beats preparation—but partly it was just because, after reading dozens and dozens of rejections letters, I was inured to it. It’s never easy to put yourself out there, but it gets easier the more you do it.

Don’t Take it Personally

This is, perhaps, the biggest challenge. Your writing is likely deeply personal. But your writing is not you, so don’t tie your self-worth up in it. Book deal or no book deal, bestseller or flop: you will still be you. Writing is art; trying to sell it is business. Don’t confuse the two. Wait until you feel your art is ready to stand on its own, then do your best to let it go. When an agent, a publisher, or a reviewer doesn’t like your work, it’s not because they’re against you or because you’re a failure. If you’re able to let feedback guide you rather than destroy your confidence, you’re much more likely to benefit from it. Don’t let rejection define you. Just as with athletes, if you keep showing up, if you’re back next season, you’ve got an edge over most.  

Remember it Only Takes One

That moment of hearing yes? Of talking to a publishing professional who has fallen in love with your work and wants to support it? Trust me, it will overshadow everything that came before it. Writing is not about creating something everyone will love. You don’t want to just find an audience, you want to find your audience, and it all starts with a yes from the right person.  

Modulate the Highs and Lows

When my agent was submitting my first novel to publishers, I was on an anxious high the whole time. Every day I would wake up and think “this could be the day my life changes!” And every time we got some positive feedback, my expectations would ramp up another notch. So it’s no wonder that I crashed hard when I ultimately didn’t get a deal. It’s important to celebrate your successes, of course, but the flip side of not letting failure define you is that you can’t let success define you either. I saw this all the time when I was working at Doubleday, authors would set themselves up for disappointment by setting their expectations so high, there was nowhere to go but down. For the truly resilient, it’s never over until you decide it is. So just decide you’re not quitting and chill out.

Treasure the Process  

Being a successful writer takes many things: some measure of innate talent, lots of hard work and discipline, certainly, and a bit of luck. But resilience is the hallmark of what it means to have a lifelong writing career. This is why we love origin stories of famous writers papering their offices with rejection letters. Getting rejected many times over and living to fight another day? That ardent self-belief and that passion that fuels you to keep going? That’s what makes you the real thing.  

Shaun T as Writing (and Life) Coach

In the crowded world of workout “gurus” hawking programs,DVDs, and merchandise, Shaun T—creator of the aptly named Insanity workout series—inspires unusual devotion. He began his career as a backup dancer for Mariah Carey and has gone on to inspire millions with his tough but fun workouts and his positive attitude (he’s seems universally known for being a really good guy). 

I’m pretty particular about coaches and trainers: most I find either too shout-y, too exuberant, or both. But something about Shaun T’s unique brand of drill sergeant meets cheerleader meets best friend strikes exactly the right balance for me. And about a billion other folks, judging from the popularity of his programs. From within the confines of the television screen, he manages to convince you that he really does care about you and that he’s proud of you for working hard.

Shaun T’s uber tough at-home workouts have a turn-key solution for me. My schedule is crowded between my increasingly busy day job and writing life, and regular exercise is non-negotiable. My basic rule about getting things done is to wake up earlier. It’s not because I like mornings, but once the work days get going (and going and going) the chances of writing and getting to the gym get slimmer and slimmer. So the challenge: how do I get both an hour of writing anda workout in before heading to the office? Even the shortest commute to the gym isn’t an option. But lucky me, my boy Shaun T just came without a new 30-minute workout that kicks your butt even harder than the 45-60 minute workouts on his original DVDs.

I love doing these two activities (writing and working out) back-to-back because they reinforce each other so well. Writing is solitary, so it’s nice to have Shaun T’s handsome, pore-less face all up in mine encouraging me right after I finish my hour. Here’s some inspiration straight from the source:

You can (freaking) do it!

Shaun T believes in you. He wants you to believe in you too. When the going gets tough, he’s there to talk you up and remind you what you’re capable of.

If you don’t believe that you can meet your goals as a writer, then you probably can’t. I’m not talking about the absence of any doubt, even wildly successful writers suffer from doubt, but underneath it, there has to be a stalwart belief that your voice matters, that your work can move people, that your words belong in print. It’s a belief that will carry through the challenges of the writing life.

I’m here for you. We’re all here for you.

One of the striking things about Shaun T is the real sense of community that he brings to his DVDs. Though everyone in his videos is uber fit: they’re diverse in terms of age, race, and background.  He regularly does sold out events around the country and has a vibrant online community with coaches and message boards that anyone can use.

People think of writing as a lonely art, and it can be if you let it. But your writing community matters: writers groups, conferences, book store events, lit crawls, online communities. Connect with your people wherever you can—it will help.  

Dig deeper!

One of Shaun T’s famous catch phrases is “Dig Deeper”. When you feel like you can’t go on, he encourages you to check in with yourself, can you do just one more rep? Last one more minute? Everything you need is within you, sometimes you just need to reach a little further to find it.

As much as I believe in community amongst writers, this art ultimately comes from within. To continue writing for many years without recognition (as most of us are bound to do), to continue through the rejections, disappointments, and existential angst takes a massive amount of internal fortitude.

It’s not easy, this takes commitment

Shaun T has fun with his workouts, but he also takes them seriously. He often takes a moment at the end of the video to congratulate his team and you at home on the hard work, he’s knows you’re not half-assing it if you’ve chosen this workout, this is tough so be proud of yourself.

Being a writer is hard. It takes discipline, commitment, and resilience much the same way that a challenging exercise routine does. Writing is always going to have its low moments so it’s crucial to take time to give yourself props for sticking with it and to celebrate milestone like completing a draft, getting an agent, getting a book deal, or even just having an especially good week at the keyboard. Being a writer isn’t for the faint of heart, be proud of yourself.

Know your Limits

Unlike some fitness programs, Shaun T constantly reminds you to listen to your body and know your limits. In Shaun T’s world, there’s no shame in taking a break. Watching the uber fit people in his videos take five to towel off and drink some water, only to hop back in with renewed energy and enthusiasm, is reassuring and inspiring.

Comparing yourself to other writers is a sure path to despair. Everyone’s writing life is different because everyone’s life is different. Don’t compare yourself to a writer who is able to devote their whole day to writing and feel bad that you can only fit in an hour. First of all, they might have a secret trust fund; but regardless they’re a different person with different demands on their time, different priorities, different relationships, etc. etc. Figure out what works for you in your writing life and stick to it. Use other writers’ strategies as inspiration, not bars for competition.

San Francisco Writers Conference 2015 recap

This year I celebrated Valentine’s Day with several hundred fellow book lovers at the San Francisco Writers Conference. It was Girl Friday’s first time at the conference so we weren’t sure what to expect. Conferences require a huge amount of time and energy, and the SFWC made it well worth it.  

We attended AWP last year, which is a terrific conference in its own right, but one of the things that comes to mind when I remember the experience is the rows and rows of exhibitor tables stretching as far as the eye could see. It was an amazing panoply of publishers, writing programs, chapbooks, and literary magazines, but the level of overwhelm was high.

At the SFWC, we were tucked in a cozy table in the reception area with only a handful of neighboring booths, and we had ample opportunity to get to know our fellow exhibitors during the lulls. There were some familiar faces from the EFA, to our right were the gals from Pubslush and to our left Jennifer (who wins my award for subtly on-message outfits) from Bookhive, a new company that offers reader focus groups to help authors hone their market. Across the way was the Blurb booth, who had my favorite marketing device of the conference: a chalkboard where you could write what your next book was about.  

On Friday, I did a panel with my dear friend Lucy Silag, who was there repping Book Country. Our talk was packed to the gills with folks who seemed incredibly receptive to our message about honing and marketing their work by building book communities both online and off. During the Q and A, someone asked if filming himself jumping from a plane while reading his book would make a good marketing device. It might, I told him, it’s all about the audience. Would his audience be charmed or simply confused by such extreme antics? Book Country filmed us during the panel, did interviews with Christina, Meg, and me about our work, and got some footage of us chatting to folks at the Girl Friday booth. We’ll share all of these as soon as we’ve got our hands on them!   

For me, the highlight of the conference was meeting Judith Curr, publisher of Atria Books, who was the conference’s keynote speaker. The Girls Friday and I were feeling a little star-struck after she came by our table to learn about us and chat; she’s warm and smart and incredibly glamorous, like someone Hollywood might cast to play a powerhouse lady publisher. As luck would have it, Atria is publishing my debut novel next year and as we listened to Judith’s show-stopping keynote on Sunday morning, I couldn’t help but think how jealous I would be if I wasn’t lucky enough to have landed with them. She told the rapt audience (no small feat at 8am on the fourth day of a conference) about her own fascinating background growing up as one of seven siblings in Queensland, Australia and how she came to work in New York just as Amazon was launching and upending the whole system. She took us through the questions she asks each editor who wants to acquire a book for Atria: Why this book? Who will read it? How will they buy it? One of the things she said in her keynote that stuck with me was that every author has to decide what will make them happy and to celebrate each milestone along the way. Will it make you happy to get published? To sell ten thousand copies? It’s no good to simply say that you want every book to be a bestseller. Set realistic goals, celebrate when you reach them, and then move the bar. It seems like a good formula for not remaining in a constant state of writerly angst.

If I have any regrets about the conference, I wish we could have gone to more panels. The two I went to were dynamite: one featured the aforementioned delightful Judith and bestselling Atria author John Lescroart. On Sunday I went to a talk featuring the dynamic and insightful Penny Sansevieri, who did an incredibly engaging mini-class on the rather prosaic subject of Amazon marketing. Never has someone made keywords so much fun. Our own Kate Chynoweth moderated a fascinating panel on heroes and villains, where we gained insight on creating nuanced characters that readers will want to come back to again and again. And we heard editors deconstruct their methods—one of whom was advocating a twenty-two-step process.

Conferences are a rare opportunity to meet hundreds of your fellow writers and connect, drink wine, and learn about all of the newfangled things folks are coming up with to sell, promote, and create books. Until next year San Fran, up next PNWA!

Book Marketing: the Long Game

I signed my book deal with Atria last fall. The manuscript is done but the book doesn’t come out until March 2016, giving me a little over a year to wait patiently for book to meet world. Except I’m not a very good waiter. I’m like five year old or a German Shepherd, I need a job to do if you don’t want the furniture destroyed.

I was reminded last week in talking to a friend, a memoirist whose just-released book was on a much tighter schedule than mine, that having this kind of time is actually a huge blessing. I’m always telling clients and students that they should start as early as possible when it comes to their social media and marketing efforts. Ideally marketing should be a gradual, organic process, and that takes time.

As the social media and marketing director of GFP, this is where I put my money where my mouth is. As an author with a year-long countdown ahead of her, here’s what’s on my to-do list now:  

Read My Butt Off

I always try to read lots of fiction by contemporary authors. I love to shout out and connect with the ones I like on social media (little harder to do with say, Jane Austen). This is lots of fun, but it’s also vital. If I want the author community to support me when my book comes out, I sure as hell better support it now. Right now I’m also in the process of asking folks for blurbs, and you better believe I’m not sidling up to anyone asking them to give my book an endorsement if I didn’t read (and love) theirs.

Pro Tip: If you’re a writer, reading should be a daily habit. No excuses. Reading books by authors with a similar audience will help you hone your own work and understand your reader better. Be generous with other authors; they’re your teammates, not your competition.

Work On My Next Book

It’s somewhat surreal to finally be finished with a book I worked on off-and-on for over a decade. I’m thrilled on the one hand, but it’s also hard to let go. But there’s nothing like the distraction of a new love to help you move on from an old one. So I’m making it a point to get up early and work on my new novel for an hour a day before I go into the office, just as I would if I had a deadline looming.

Pro Tip: Looking forward to the next book is one of the best things you can do for yourself once you’ve finished working on something. It will help you not feel as though you have all of your eggs in one proverbial basket. This isn’t the time to let the good habits you developed writing the last book fall by the wayside.

Social Media

I’ll go into more detail about this in a later post, but here’s a quick summary of my social media routine: I’m spending plenty of time on Twitter: finding new authors and writers to follow and interact with, using the hell out of the #amreading hashtag, and looking for interesting bookish conversations to jump into. I’m also blogging every week (hi!) and working on an in-world Tumblr specifically for the book. And naturally, I’m logging and rating all the great books I’m reading on Goodreads.

Pro Tip:  Social media can become overwhelming and all-consuming pretty easily. Develop what feels like a doable strategy (blog once a week, Tweet every day, put together Pinterest Boards for your characters, etc.) and set aside some time to do it. I block out two hours over the weekend to do my social media for the following week.

Get Face Time

I can’t emphasize this enough, the best way to set yourself up for success is to spend time with and support other writers and book folks. I’m lucky in that there is a significant crossover with my day job here. I’m heading to the San Francisco Writers Conference this coming weekend, and have a half dozen other conferences and panels booked for the coming year. I also run a bi-monthly publishing and author mixer with a bookseller friend of mine.

Pro tip: Even if you don’t have the necessary access or resources to go to big conferences and events, you likely have a local bookstore where you can attend readings, shop, and chat with the staff. Social media is awesome, but nothing beats face-to-face for making a connection.

The Ecstasy of Editorial

Girl Friday, where I work, has all kinds of editorial clients: novelists, memoirists, business book authors, you name it. Most of them are wonderful and grateful for the fabulous work that my talented colleagues do to improve their books. But every once in a while we get someone who just doesn’t want to be told, a writer who rejects the notion that the editorial process will improve their work, which isobviously perfect as it is. Frankly, I find this arrogant and not a little bit self-destructive. In my humble (informed and reasoned) opinion, there is a not a writer in the world whose work cannot be made better, sharper, clearer, and more powerful via the editorial process. Got that? Not one.

I’m not saying there are no bad editors out there—a good fit is paramount—but I believe the process itself to be sacred. Lots of elements of publishing are up for debate in the modern era. This isn’t one of them.

My novel The Sojourn was raised by an editorial village that encompasses everyone from my college mentor to the fine folks at Aria Books. I’ve been working on the novel off and on for twelve years and over that time a number of professors, writers, and colleagues have given me feedback on it. But in the name of brevity, I will only talk about the editorial process as it concerns the book’s most recent iteration.

At the beginning of last year, after a number of attempts at getting published, I decided to have another go. If I was going to take my beloved novel back out into the world, I wanted to give it the best possible chance of succeeding, so I hired one of Girl Friday’s talented editors Amara Holstein to help me out. She was smart and cool and a Francophile like me, a perfect fit. She helped me smooth things on the line and most importantly: cut, cut, cut. I knew I had pacing problems, and I needed an expert third party to tell me what could get the axe. I asked her to ruthlessly extract anything that wasn’t moving the plot forward. Once Amara and I finished our revisions, I sent it out with a certainty that whatever happened, I would know I’d done everything I could. It didn’t take long to see the results of our efforts.

About a month later, I received a revise and resubmit letter from one of my top choice agents Carly Watters. She told me she liked the book but wanted to know if I’d be willing to make some changes. I was thrilled with her feedback. First of all, it meant I had an agent interested who had a keen editorial eye and was willing to do the work necessary to give a book the best chance at selling. And her suggestions themselves felt so spot on it seemed like we’d been working together for years. I revised in a hurry. I sent it back to Carly and she called me the next day. I had other agents looking, but there was no way I wasn’t going with her. In addition to everything else I knew about Carly when I queried her, I now knew that he was a clear communicator and had an editorial eye that could make my work better.

After we sold the book to Atria, I got a chance to work with my in-house editor, the delightful Sarah Cantin. I knew from previous conversations that we had a ton in common and a shared vision for the book. Digging in with her was great fun. Reading her notes and feeling the empathy and appreciation she had for my characters bowled me over. Endings in particular are so tricky, and Sarah helped me hone mine in a way I couldn’t have done without her. After all the years I’d spent with the book, seeing it all come together in a way that felt so right was incredible.

Next came that unsung hero of the editorial process, the copyeditor. A big part of the copyeditor’s job is to clean up mistakes and ensure consistency, but there’s more to it than that. My meticulous copyeditor, Steve Boldt, caught things such as a character getting on the wrong train to her destination, or the fact that I had my heroine calling her mother from France when it would be the middle of the night California time. It’s easy to miss these kinds of details when you’re focusing on bigger issues, but leaving them in could risk distracting the reader, and even losing their confidence. Seeing this manuscript that I’d labored over for so many years get its final polish was a pleasure akin to having my car detailed.

Much is made of what a lonely art writing is, and it’s true that you need to be prepared for some solitude. The years of rejection can be wearying: you wonder if your voice will ever be heard, if anyone will ever give a damn. But it makes it all the sweeter when such gifted people care enough about your work to put their own creative talents into it. Even if it isn’t always easy to hear critical feedback, heed thy editor(s) my friend, they are on your side.