As I sit here, listening to 'Wasted Time' from The Weeknd's newest album, 'My Dear Melancholy,'
(shameless plug of one of my future husband's work) I began thinking about a conversation I just had with someone about writing. I was asked, "So when is your book coming out?" In true dramatic, Cancerian form, the question hit me like I had been asked "when are you going to get married" or "when are you finally you going to have kids?"
Maybe the questions are on total ends of the spectrum, but it's a question I get asked all the time. And as a thirty-three-year-old single woman, those are questions I'm constantly asked. Each time, the answer remains the same: "I don't know."
When I said I wanted to become an author, I had it in my mind that all I had to do was write a story, send it in, then BAM! Published author. Ha. Hilarious right? I started my first story, about a chef and an event planner who reunites after a whirlwind romance on a tropical island, way back in 2012. I never finished that story, and those characters, Quentin and Nicole, still haunt me. I even believe I may have started working on a story well before then. Like back in 2002, when I was a high school senior. However, my "career" didn't officially begin until 2015. That's when I became serious in my pursuit to become a published romance author.
Almost three years later, I've written one story (rewrote and edited it a handful of times). This novel reached the Top Ten of Harlequin's So You Think You Write contest. I've worked on several stories as well, but unfortunately, I haven't sold anything to a publishing company.
It's HARD AS HELL publishing a novel. You write a story, edit it, send it to your dream publishing company which takes about 12-14 weeks to be read. If you're lucky and the editor likes the story, depending on what you've sent in (a proposal, partial, or the entire manuscript), they may request more (if you submitted a proposal or partial). If you sent in the completed manuscript, they might ask you revise and resubmit it. This process could take anywhere from a few months to a year, and even still, the editors may choose to not purchase your manuscript.
It's not easy becoming a published author. It takes time and a great deal of patience. Many people ask about self-publishing, but that's a story for another time and blog post. I know, in my heart, one day my dreams will come true. How soon? Well, I don't know.
