The Publishing Journey

It is a long and arduous one. For me it began alone on the red and gold swirling carpet of my childhood bedroom. Looking back that first manuscript was more a fan fiction than anything original. But it taught me so much, the greatest of those things being: writing is hard. Simply finishing a manuscript is an incredible feat.

It was not until university that I began writing consistently and with a goal in mind. At this point, with words all a scramble, I recognised I knew almost nothing of the ‘craft.’ I could write 80k+ words in a document but it didn’t make a compelling story.

After completing some short courses (information I still regularly consult from the Australian Writers Centre and Tomi Adeyemi’s, The Writers Roadmap) I had a slightly better grasp on this. Years of writing and editing and dreaming later, I began the trek that is querying. Turns out having a complete manuscript is not the only thing you need. Preparing query letters, pitch lines and hooks, synopses and ‘polished’ chapter is a new set of skills entirely.

Finally, when this dehydrated packet of your story goes into the world, you prepare the extra layers of skin everyone has been telling you to grow. The scalpel of rejection cuts pretty deep though. I was about ready to move on, begin a new story and dive back into the joy of creating a new world. Keep writing, I would tell myself. If for no one else, your characters deserve to know how their stories end. 

Then, someone I am lucky enough to call a friend, put me in touch with her publisher. It was that email that changed the course. Months later I signed a contract with New Dawn Publishing for Anatomy of Songs. Not only would my characters know how their stories end but other people would now too. 

The whole publishing operation is daunting and painful at times but inexplicably joyful and absolutely worth the outcome.

Always,

Megan