Long Overdue Update

Happy Thursday!

After weeks away, I am finally back with a long overdue update.

This is actually not the update I was setting down to write, but I started rambling and lost the thread. So, I’m circling back to cut down said rambling and give you a different update entirely!

This month, developmental edits have gotten underway on Get Ready With Me. I am so excited! I truly love this story and I know that these edits will only enhance it and make it that much better, and I cannot wait for you all to read it one day.

Which brings me to the thesis of this ramble.

I was talking to a fellow debut novelist that I met through social media just yesterday about the stage of the journey we’re in right now and we’re both in very similar places. I have found myself dancing around saying this out loud and making it “publicly” official, but I believe I have so much peace from my decision and I’m ready to just come out and say it. So, you get to say you heard it here first.

There is a better than decent chance that I will not become a traditionally published author. (With this manuscript, at least)

This is something that is admittedly, hard for me to say but probably not for the reasons you might think. It’s certainly not because I think there is anything at all wrong with self/hybrid publishing (I am actually beyond words excited about what this new path entails). It’s more because that was the path I started out on and I-a strongly type-A, neurodivergent, Virgo-do not like change (or pivoting from a well laid out plan).

The main objective remains the same, of course. I will become a published author. I am not giving up on that (and never will). And this is not to say that I won’t try to traditionally publish future manuscripts because there is a chance that I might still step into those trenches again with a new story one day (I’m far from out of ideas for new books). But just to put it all out there, here is the status and future for Get Ready With Me, as things stand today.

When I met with my editor last week, she told me that she had recommended my manuscript for publishing with their small press publishing house (An absolute freaking dream!). We are still very early in the editing phases and it will likely take several months to get through this stage.

At this time, I am no longer sending new queries for this manuscript, though I do still have some outstanding and I do not indend to withdraw any of those outstanding queries. Should any of those turn into something more, fantastic! If not however, I will be absolutely over the moon to publish with them in a hybrid-style publishing arrangement.

Here is my ultimate goal for Get Ready With Me, and I have no idea if this is a realistic timeline because I haven’t ran this by my editor (sorry girl). I have seen it said around my author spaces online that the average age for publishing a debut is 37. Despite my best efforts to remain 29 (and train my children to tell everyone I’m only 29), I have in fact aged a couple of years beyond that at this point.

In September, I will turn 36-leaving me with one full year to publish my debut in order to hit the “average age” as alleged on social media (the end all be all, right?)

So, my ultimate goal is to have Get Ready With Me published by my 37th birthday next year.

Is this a pipedream? I actually don’t think so. I feel like I have given myself a comfortable amount of time to get this done.

All of this to say, this entire “the end” to published journey has been a rollercoaster, and at almost no point has it looked exactly like I envisioned it would. But I still believe in this story, and I still know in my bones that this is the book I want to be my debut.

Hopefully, I will have more updates to share soon, until then:

With love and a new path forward,

That One Girl Who Writes