What a journey writing this book has been. Where do I even begin?

I started The Secrets We Conceal over four years ago; I originally wrote it for my husband. I wanted him to understand me better. I printed it out in all its unedited glory put it in a binder and wrapped it up for Christmas. He read it, we talked about it for weeks…and that was the end of it.

Fast forward to March 2020 and the world comes to a screeching halt. Going through sort of a mid-life crisis I decided I would spend my free time re-reading the book I wrote a few years back. As I started to read it once again, I realized what a terrible piece of garbage it was – insert laughter here. I decided I could do better, and I completely rewrote the entire book. I deleted entire chapters, reorganized the chapters I decided to keep, and added new chapters. Then I sat on it for several months.

Fast forward several months and I read the book again, editing each chapter as I went along. I googled more rules on writing than I care to admit. And frankly, the rules don’t agree with the rules. I didn’t know if I was doing certain things correctly, and correctly according to who? Finally, I decided to send what I had written to an editor. The editor was helpful, I learned a tremendous amount and I edited the book some more. After this, I thought, okay I’m done. Let me send this to a few people to read and get their opinions.

My husband, of course, read the new version once again. Each time the book improved but it wasn’t ready. Not even close.

I received a lot of great feedback, made several more edits. I decided to send the book to another editor and several more people to read and provide me with constructive feedback. I learned way more about misplaced participial pronouns than I ever knew was possible. One reader (also an author) even said you have a great story, but your book isn’t ready. Keep working, you have more work to do. You want to put your best out there. So back to the drawing board, I went. Editing and editing and MORE editing. After several more rounds of reading, changing, tweaking, and editing…December 2021 I FINALLY FINISHED my manuscript.

So, we are ready to publish now right…NOPE! You must format it. What size book do you want, what color paper, what kind of cover. You need to design a cover. Do you want to justify your text, what about the front matter and the back matter? Are you prepared to market the book? Do you have social media pages ready to go? Have you built up a following? And the list goes on and on!

I am sure that many other authors out there understand what I am talking about when I say writing the book is the easy part. It is everything else, that’s the challenging part.

All in all, I’ve had a blast, I’ve learned a lot. And I feel at peace that my book The Secrets We Conceal is finally ready for the world to read. Whomever in the world might read it. I hope that should you decide to read The Secrets We Conceal, you enjoy it as much I enjoyed writing it.

Here’s to new adventures, and the joys of learning new and exciting things! The Secrets We Conceal will be available March 15, 2022!