Getting Around To It

It’s so easy to procrastinate, especially now that the weather is getting cooler. Given the choice between writing a good book and reading one, who wouldn’t prefer settling under a comfy blanket with that completed novel? But if you want to call yourself an author, you have to write. In other words, ya gotta get around to it.

Last year at this time, I challenged myself to write a least ten pages a day during my Thanksgiving break. At the time, I focused on Book 3 of my YA fantasy series, Winnie and the “Wizard.” I even posted about it.

Not long after that challenge, Book 3 got put on hold because Hutra, the second book in the series, had reached the editing and galley stages of publication. Hutra came out in February of 2023.

Through the winter and spring months, my work on Book 3 inched along until June of this year when I got serious. My friend, Antigone, and I went on a self-guided writer’s retreat at an awesomely inspiring place in the woods called Temenos. By then, I was only a few chapters away from finishing the book and needed that extra push. After blogging about that experience, it occurred to me that I never followed up on whether or not I finished that manuscript.

I did.

On July 24, 2023, I submitted Book 3 to the Wild Rose Press for consideration. My editor immediately wrote back asking for a synopsis.

NOOOOO! I forgot all about that part of the process. Okay. Confession: I didn’t forget. I didn’t think I needed one since the publisher had accepted my first two books in the series.

Silly me.

And so, it was with a great gnashing of teeth (my process) that I agonized over creating that synopsis. After multiple attempts, it finally felt “just right,” and I emailed it to my editor.

I spent a lot of time waiting and worrying for a yea or a nay from the publisher. On top of that, this new manuscript had a lot of moving parts. Were there too many? Did all those parts come together? Did they even make sense? Or had I just submitted a novel with too much going on? Worse, what if, after all those months of pouring my soul onto the page, I’d written an embarrassment?

These are worries that plague writers. In fact, that’s how you can tell if you’re an author. If one minute, you think your work is pure genius, and the next, you think it’s pure crap, you’re an author.

Because this book was part of a series, I had another worry. What would happen if the publisher rejected it? Where could the story go? Sure, it’s a stand-alone novel, but it’s still connected to the first two books. Who else would want it?

After more waiting and agonizing, and a quick email to check into the status of the submission, the contract for Book 3 finally arrived in my inbox.

Whew! Yea!!!

Now, it’s time to admit that this new novel’s title is not Book 3. Maybe I still think of it that way because it went through so many title changes. It began life as, Leaving No Glow-Stone Unturned. But the two other book titles had weird names based on the alternate worlds where they take place. I needed this book to do the same. Since most of the action happens on an island, I wanted to give it an island name. After multiple attempts, the title morphed from Gaylynney Isle to Aylen Isle. Don’t ask.

Naturally, there’s more to the process than just coming up with a title and getting the book accepted. There’s an author portal that requires additional information. This includes the dreaded author bio, which I wanted to update.

As a rule, I don’t mind tooting my own horn, but for some reason, my tooter doesn’t toot when it comes to author bios. I’ve never written one that didn’t cause great agony.

This time, a friend at work, who has an AI app, kindly keyed a few words into it and asked it to generate a bio for me. Here are a few … well, I can’t call them highlights. They’re more like weird-lights:

“Aud Supplee discovered her passion for writing at a young age, setting the stage for a lifelong love affair with storytelling.”

If I didn’t like the sound of that, which I didn’t, AI offered another opening: “Aud’s journey as an author began in childhood, where she first explored the realms of imagination through pen and paper.” So wrong. I used pencils in childhood.

Moving on: “This early creative spark ignited a flame that would accompany her throughout her literary endeavors. … her works reflect a profound connection with her roots, seamlessly blending personal with the universal to create stories that resonate with readers of all backgrounds.” Lord, have mercy.

If nothing else, I learned if I want a “normal” author bio, I jolly well better write it myself. Which, again, involved a lot of whining and complaining before I finally came up with something that I could read without gagging.

So far, my editor and I have gone through two rounds of edits. We’ve moved on to the galley phase of the process. There will probably be another galley before it’s ready for the printer. The cover art should be showing up in my inbox very soon. I’ll share that when it arrives.

It was a long process from start to finish. Now, it’s an exciting time for my “youngest,” which I still think of as “Book 3.” At least now that I’ve seen it grow through the edits, I’m not worried about all those moving parts. I can’t wait to see how Aylen Isle does out in the real world!

Happy writing!