Has it really been five years? I needed a change, to get serious about writing after years of picking at it. So I booked myself a ticket to New York and signed up for the Backspace Writers Conference. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even have a book. I pitched four agents, got four summary rejections, and yet, I didn’t feel down about it. Instead, I packed up my suitcase with Florence and the Machine playing Dog Days are Over on repeat and resolved to get home and get to writing. Little did I know HOW much change I’d just asked for.
Within a few months I’d closed on my first house and changed jobs. Writing waited a bit longer as my world righted, but the stories simmered. They needed writing. So I started writing them at last. Most importantly, I’d made friends, found my tribe. Incredible people like Sara J. Henry, Cecy Robson, Barbara Wright, Erin Russell, Helen Corcoran, and Stephanie Floch: some of whom I still talk to almost daily as we navigate this industry together. Now I’m here, with an agent I adore, with two books on submission and two more almost on his desk. Never have I felt my mantra more strongly: “Believe in yourself. Be kind. Keep writing.”