Becoming Who You Want to Be
With the start of a new year I like to take some time to reflect on habits I want to change. I give myself grace with the timeline though. After the stress of our entire family having norovirus earlier in December, the hustle of the holidays, my son's 11th birthday, and then a work trip to Florida, I've been too busy to do the deep work required to firm up my plan for improvement in 2025. I've always been more of a person to think of a word I want to embody or embrace instead of rigid new goals. I want to set myself up for success. I know if I change too many things at once I won't stick with it long. And it's okay if I don't start right away on January first. A little rest is required first!
My sister sent me a reel on Instagram that asked viewers to let the video play, and without looking do a screen grab at a random time to see what word you would get to start thinking about in your life for 2025.
I took on the challenge and ended up with the word 'emergence' that you see in the photo above. It was very fitting as I continue on my new path as a stay at home mom, author and co-business owner. I want to see each small step I take on my author journey as a new emergence of myself, helping me to gather momentum to my final goal of publishing my book.
What's going on with my book right now?
Right before Christmas I sent my book to two trusted beta readers. One is in her early 20s so I can get a sample of what the younger readers may think. The other is in her late 30s. They are reading what is my second draft. I hope to gain a lot of clarity on the direction of my story after hearing their thoughts, and I can't wait to tell you all some of what they said about my book. I'm so excited to start sharing more about my story! I also hope their feedback helps me decide what parts to cut as my story is still about 30,000 words too long.
Below are the questions I have asked them to complete for me:
1. Revisit the first few paragraphs. If you weren't reading this book as a favor to me, would you have been interested in continuing? If not, what would make it more enticing to the reader to be pulled in? (It's okay if you aren't sure---that's my job!)
2. At what point did you feel like the story really picked up or got going? Were there any parts that kept you glued to the book? If so, which ones? Alternatively, any parts where you lost interest and put the book down, feeling unmotivated to pick it back up?
3. In your opinion, what were the main strengths of the story?
4. Did you feel there were any weaknesses within the plot or characters?
5. What part(s) of the story resonated with you or moved you emotionally?
6. Were there any characters you wished you knew more about or that I had included more deeply?
7. Alternatively, were there any side characters you felt were unnecessary and should be cut?
8. Did you notice any discrepancies or inconsistencies in time sequences, places, character details, plot, etc.?
9. Was the ending satisfying/believable?
10. How did you predict the story would end? Were you happy with how I ended it?
11. If someone asked you to describe this novel in 3-5 sentences, how would you describe it without giving away major plot points?
12. Final thoughts: Is there anything you want to add that you think would be constructive for me? You can be brutally honest here!
What happens next?
Next week I am meeting with a potential writing coach and editor. It has taken me a very long time to research and decide on who I want to hire to take my book to the next level, and I'm hopeful after our first meeting I will feel confident and in alignment with her. I'll have more to share on that in subsequent newsletters!
What's left on the journey to publishing?
-Completing a third draft
-More edits/revisions on my own
-Hiring a paid, professional editor
-Querying literary agents
--->this means I write a 200 word essay to get them interested in me/my story and send it off and hope for the best, kind of like a job application
-Hopefully an agent takes my book idea to their publisher
-Publishing contract!
It feels like there's so far to go yet, but I am reminding myself how far I've come. And once I've gotten my book through a professional edit, then it's really just waiting to see what happens with the agents.
