After months and months of writing The Gift this morning it all came to an end. I signed off on the typesetting files, and at lunchtime it was uploaded to Netgalley and sent out to book reviewers, and it will be officially published in just two weeks.
It seems far longer than five months ago I was waiting anxiously for the first reviews to come in for The Sister, my debut novel, but I still remember that anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach as thoughts rushed in at me from all directions, and none of them were good. ‘What if no one likes it?’
With the second novel. I had hoped the process would be easier, but I find myself restless again, unable to settle.
As I look around I see a pile of laundry, books waiting to be read, admin to be caught up on, but I cannot concentrate. Instead I wait and I think about the highs and lows of becoming an author, and despite the gnawing anticipation, the nagging feeling that my second book might not be as well received as my first, I think about how lucky I am. Finally published. I am so glad I never gave up on my dream.
fabricating fiction 
Don’t worry ’bout a t’ing, every little t’ing’s gonna be alright. But you do need to get that laundry sorted. 🙂
I wish i was reviewing it for you. Good luck, deep breath and go and do the laundry😇😉
We spend months, sometimes years, creating our books and putting our thoughts and emotions into them so of course we care what other people think of them. I imagine parents sending children to school and hoping they make friends feel a liitle like authors sending their work out to editors, publishers and readers.
Hi Patsy, sorry this comment got hidden somehow. Absolutely there is a similarity between our children and our books – we both want people to like them 😁
Read the opening chapter. Oh. My. Word. I don’t think you have to worry Missus. I’ll be devouring this over the weekend I think 😉
Oh you are the first person to read it that I know off! Even my husband has not read this one yet x
You are several steps ahead of me in this process. I just passed the 72,000 word mark on a project I started in concert with NaNoWriMo2016 and I want to finish it so I can edit and shop it to agents and publishers. If you have advice to share I am all ears.
That’s brilliant Joe. Really good word count. I think the best advice I could probably give it don’t send it off before it’s ready. It’s easy to get carried away and want to submit but you generally only get one shot with each manuscript with the agents and publishers so take your time and get it right. Wishing you lots of luck.
Thanks, I will.
I forgot this part. I know it is not all red roses and chocolate bars, but I still want to experience it for myself. Kudos to you on your second book!
Thanks very much.
2,000 reviews for your first book! Congrats. And congrats on already finishing a second
Thanks. My first book has done incredibly well which has piled on the pressure somewhat for the second!
Best of luck with the reviews, Louise. Any idea of the timescale? When do you expect the first ones to come in?
I would have thought by now – it’s strangely silent…
It’s the weekend on the run up to Christmas – people are shopping like crazy. But the reviews will start coming in soon and I’m sure they’ll be glowing 🙂
SO excited for you Louise! You’ll knock this one out of the park too! It’s small potatoes, in comparison, but I know that having had some success on HuffPo, has really set me back on my own blog. The pressure from one bigger success can be daunting, when dealing with the task of just moving forward with another. But, you’ve written the book, you’ve put it out there, now take a deep breath and read a book! 🙂
Thanks Dawn. Huffington Post is a massive achievement. It’s fiercely competitive to be published on there.
Thanks Louise… it’s proven daunting to me. Keeps me from writing other things! :-p