Update!
Before I get to the update, I'd like to welcome all the new folks! Over 100 people signed up to download (and hopefully read) my free Christmas romance novella Running From Christmas (more on that below) and, consequentially, signed up for this mailing list. I'm very grateful to everyone who downloaded it and even more grateful to the ones who shared.
For those who have been here before, you may have noticed a bit of a refresh, what do you think? If you’d like to take a peek behind the scenes of my incredibly exciting life, I’ve basically spent my whole Saturday writing this and going back and forth between using MailChimp and Substack, trying to figure out which platform I should use. Why? Because I like to make my life as difficult as possible and adding one more layer of indecision into it seemed like the best way to do this. (Winner: Substack).
Alright, here is the update for reals:
I first started outlining the steps an author goes through to publish a book here and then I continued here. And then I (sort of) finished off here. So, it would naturally follow, if I had presented these steps with any sort of consistency (I didn't), that my next step would be 10? Maybe? In any case, the last thing I wrote about was sending my manuscript to the beta readers: a group of amazing men and women, from Canada and the UK, who generously took time out of their busy days to read my book and give their well-thought-out feedback. And, while the feedback led to another overhaul and extensive rewrites, it all contributed to making the book a LOT better and I'm very grateful to the group.
A couple of key things I learned were that my main character was not a very good cat mom (very fair) and she was also not super likable and that maybe there should be a more defined character arc so at the end people don't want to punch her in the face (also fair). I hope that the rewrites do the feedback justice.
Step 11 (or whatever): After the rewrites, my publisher sent the manuscript to a copy editor who edited it for grammar, etc. but also for tone and consistency. She gave some great feedback, specifically the suggestion to tone down one of the secondary characters, which I (eventually) happily agreed with and did more rewrites, and now the book is even BETTER if you can believe it.
Step 12: After those rewrites, it went to a proofreader who read it specifically looking for grammar, spelling errors, etc., and also gave some suggestions on word choice. All I had to do after was go through the word document and accept or reject his revisions. This was probably my favourite part because I am a giant nerd and love grammar and it was almost like a party as I gleefully when through it and excitedly exclaimed things out loud like "Great choice!" or "Nice catch" or "I didn't know that!" And this, my friends, is why I will be single forever.
Step 13: This is the step we're on now and it's a great step because the manuscript is off to layout and I am DONE WITH THE WRITING PART! I'm done! I can now just sit back and never read it again because I know if I do I will find something wrong and it will be too late and I will never let it go for the rest of my life.
Now we are in the final steps which involve executing the marketing plan and posting on social and sending out emails like it's my full-time job about the book launch (October 4th) and the launch party (October 29th) and the book itself (Someone To Kiss) until everyone in the world has read it and Reece Witherspoon makes it into a movie and I'm rich and famous and I quit my actual full-time job and move to an island with all of my books.
Just kidding, I love my job. I'll just work remotely.
(Oh yeah, and I'm also about 20,000 words into my next book, Love, Julie which I will talk more about in another newsletter because this one is already too long)
What I’m Reading
About three years ago I attended a week-long online thriller writer's convention. Jennifer Hillier was part of a panel of (I think) 5 writers, one of whom was Karin Slaughter who is one of my favourite authors and the reason I had wanted to watch the panel in the first place. The panel was amazing and I found Jennifer (we're on a first-name basis now, I guess) to be delightful. I had just started writing Someone To Kiss and her writing process both fascinated and terrified me. You could also tell she was the only Canadian on the panel because she was so polite and so gently self-deprecating that I couldn't help but love her. At the time she had just released Jar of Hearts so I immediately bought it. But because I have 800 books on my TBR pile, I just recently finished reading it. And, let me tell you, it was well worth waiting for. The writing was amazing, the characters were so well-developed and the story was intense. If you like thrillers I would run out and buy this one and anything else she's written. I will warn you though: there is some disturbing stuff that will make you wonder how a sweet Canadian woman with amazing hair could pull that out of her brain, but that made me love her even more. If you like Karin Slaughter, you'll like Jennifer Hillier, trust me. I can't wait to read her new one: Things we do in the Dark.
The book I'm going to be reading is much different. I joined my first buddy read on Instagram and we're going to be starting Bianca Marais' latest release The Witches of Moonshyne Manor on September 1st. For those who are avid readers of my newsletter, you'll know that I can't shut up about the podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing which she co-hosts (and created). That podcast is the reason my novel is being published and I love her so much and if I ever meet her in person I will likely start crying. I've only read one of her other two books (even though I do own the other one) and I loved it, so I'm very certain I will also love this one.
What I'm actually reading now is The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes and it's excellent but I couldn't fit the picture in properly so this is all you're going to get.
Have you downloaded my free e-book Running from Christmas yet? Guess what? You still can! Click here before they run out!
Just kidding, they won't run out, it's digital, you guys.