One year ago, my Terrible Romance Novel (AKA, Love & Other Lies) made it out into the world.
Of course, me being me, this achievement was not announced for nearly another month when a fellow author outed me on Twitter. My response was literally, “HOW DID SHE FIND OUT?!?!?!?”
(I have issues. I know.)
But its official birthday is today.
I am so very grateful to everyone who helped this little experiment of mine get to this milestone. From the critique partner who very helpfully said of an early draft, “I don’t want these two characters to spend any more time together” (oops…) to my brother whose suggestions helped put this project on a much better path to my beloved goddaughter whose enthusiasm for this story ensured I would one day get it done, and to everyone in between. Me writing a book truly takes a village, and I love you all.
And I also want to give the loudest of shout-outs to the people who have taken the time to read this story. I don’t look at reviews (like, never ever), but I have heard through the grapevine that there are some, so whether you loved the story or hated it or fell somewhere in between, thank you for taking the time and making the effort. It is so very appreciated.
Because of my aforementioned issues, I don’t always (translation: pretty much never) do things in this industry the way people think I should. It’s a honest-to-goodness struggle for me to do things like not physically run away and hide should someone say to me, “hey, I read your book” or even “hey, I know you wrote a book.”
So if you ever do that, or anything like that, and I am weird and awkward in response, just know it’s not you. It’s me. It’s all me.
And, also, in case you missed it, last week was Effigy’s book birthday. It didn’t make it onto the blog because I was busy lamenting a certain struggle with a certain Camp NaNoWriMo project, so I thought I would mention it here and now.
This was my debut novel that came out seven years ago. I’m pretty sure I said after the fact that I would never publish another novel, but that just goes to show what I know.
Who knows what the next seven years may bring. Or even the next year. Certainly not me. (But I do hope it involves an ending for my current WIP…)
Anyway, thank you, everyone, for coming along on this all-too weird and awkward journey with me. I hope, at the very least, it has been entertaining.
Stay safe & well, all.
Never? I’d say you are stubborn. LOL
Maybe just a little bit. 😉
Happy book birthday(s) to you!
Thank you!
All sorts of book birthdays around here. Happy book birthday to both books.
I don’t know why, but the end of July seems to be a good time for me to release a novel. The next birthday isn’t until September, though. There’s always an outlier.
Things certainly seem to be getting crazier every year. But at least it’s a pandemic so you don’t have to do any speaking in front of crowds, right?
It does make for an excellent excuse to stay home.
Happy book birthdays. You know writing is something you have to do when you feel awkward about the final product being out there in the world, and you continue to do it anyway.