I am a lover of all things books.  In English, what I mean is I really have no favorite genre.  What piques my interest could be the title, the cover, the author or perhaps just a suggestion from a friend.

I’m Hopping because it is Hump Day : http://www.mommyonlyhas2hands.org

Today I would like to introduce you to debut author, Kim Wright.  Her novel “Love in Mid Air” caught my eye.  I asked her to write a guest post for me and she graciously accepted.  I hope you enjoy her inspiration!

http:loveinmidair.com
When your first novel comes out, one of the classic questions you get is “How long did it take to write this book?”  Sounds like a logical thing to ask, but it always confounds me a bit.  Because I don’t know if I should count the fallow periods.In one sense I began Love in Mid Air over ten years ago, just following my own divorce.  But I knew that I was working with material too close to home – it felt emotionally raw, and I was also afraid I’d fall into the trap of making the novel overly autobiographical.  So I threw my journals into a Hefty bag, one of the big drawstring kind people use for autumn leaves, and put it in a closet for two years.   Then I worked on it for two years, put it away for three more, finally got it out and really plowed though a first draft, and then let it sit for another year.  The thing is, the world isn’t really waiting for a first novel from an unknown writer.  You don’t have any deadlines.  There are no agents or editors itching to read it. Real life in the form of jobs and kids is always pulling at your sleeve.   Everyone keeps reminding you that publication is a statistical long shot.  If I hadn’t formed a tribe of good writing friends during my visits to conferences and retreats through the years I’m not sure I would have had the stamina and emotional courage to keep going.

That’s probably, in fact, the main thing I would tell someone who wants to write.  Don’t do it in isolation.  Go to workshops, critique groups, conferences, MFAs, coffeehouse readings, use Facebook and social/literary websites….anything you can find that will help connect you to other writers.   It’s not just a matter of networking – although that’s important and not the dirty word some writers seem to think it is.   But you’re also going to need these people for feedback, praise, advice, an ear to vent to, and just the periodic reality check.  I recently threw away 200 pages of a book in progress when I realized it wasn’t working.  I knew it was what I needed to do but that’s a pretty sick feeling to jettison six months’ worth of work.  I was moaning and groaning about it on Facebook and within a couple of hours I got this flood of responses from all sorts of writers ranging from beginners to a Pulitzer Prize winner.  They were saying things like “I’ve been there” or “It’s the right thing” or “Don’t beat yourself up.”

When the book was finally finished, my cadre of writing friends – four wonderful women I’ve come to trust completely – helped me whip it into good shape and then I started to look for an agent.  This was the single toughest part of the process.  I got maybe 30 or 40 rejections and finally I broke down and asked one of those friends if she would introduce me to her agent.  I’m not sure why I didn’t ask her to start with, but I had some sort of nincompoop idea about doing it all on my own merit.  Publishing a book is just one long exercise in getting over yourself.  So I asked Alison to introduce me to David and we turned out to be a great fit.  He sold the book in about six weeks.  So after years in which nothing happened, things happened very fast.

The second thing I’d say to aspiring writers is this:  Savor the sweet moments as long as you can.  This is a tough business and there are so many moments of doubt.  Bad reviews hurt.  You never seem to be doing enough.  That second book can run itself down a blind alley and require you to cut 200 pages,  It’s easy to just sit and watch your rankings rise and fall on Amazon like some demented day trader.  But there are also moments of incredible joy.  Not just good reviews, but days when you remember exactly why you’re doing this and why you can’t imagine doing anything else with your life.    When I have one of those moments I try to stand back and let it sink in.  And then I say “Amen.”

So what do you all think?  Pretty inspiring right…