Last night, I finished up with a few tweaks and edits on WANTED BY YOU. It’s headed to the copy editor now which means we’re getting closer and closer to publication! 

*throws confetti!*

Let’s talk about the art of writing for a moment…

I think some people think writing a book is like taking a crap. You just sit down and write, and boom, a masterpiece is formed. No. That’s not how it works. There’s anxiety involved. A lot of anxiety and edits and rewrites. And the voices in your head never shut up. And they’re begging you to tell their story, but you can’t write fast enough to get everything down at once so you have notes all over the place. Inside your old college notebooks. On your Notes app on your iPhone. On your laptop’s sidebar sticky notes. It’s a mess of notes all over the place; sometimes in places you can’t even remember putting them. It’s exhausting and time consuming but completely magical all at the same time.

All of the anxiety and edits and perfecting is totally worth it because writing a book is not like taking a dump. It’s not an everyday occurrence that everybody does. It’s a big deal. It’s crossing off a bucket list item. It’s chasing after the dream you’ve had since you were a little girl. A dream of one day becoming that author who inspires others to write because being a writer is their dream, too.

So, as I get closer to publishing my first book and think about all the excitement and nerves that will come with release day, I can’t help but smile and think, bring it on! I’m not going to let anything or anyone bring me down. I’ve worked hard to get where I am as a writer, and I’m not going to let one person’s opinion or a bad review or whatever bring me down because writing a book is not like taking a poop. If it was, everybody would do it and nobody would judge anybody on how they do it because nobody would care.

I’m thankful for the people who care about me and my book and the Love in the City series, the people who have taken the time to help me through the writing and editing process and given me sound advice, and to the people who read my book early on and gave me their honest opinions.

I will forever be grateful for people’s honesty and feedback, but honestly, writing a book is nothing like taking a shit. Not everybody can do it. Not everybody has the guts to do it. So, cheers to all of us who have the courage to put ourselves out there, and to all the people who continuously support and encourage us to pursue our dreams and who care enough to share their thoughts with us.