Have you written a book so strange you’re tempted to close your eyes, hit “delete”, then nuke it off your hard drive, not because it’s bad, but due to the tsunami of gut-wrenching anxiety that surges when you think of what comes next?
I have advice.
I wrote that book.
Think you wrote a dumpster fire? Mine could summon the fire brigade. But I’d written exactly what I wanted. Now what?
I edited, then submitted it for publication.
After years of refusals, I won an award was the Kenneth Patchen Award for the Innovative Novel from the Journal of Experimental Fiction for 2019. My dumpster fire is Plague City.
As I read the acceptance message, I experienced a strange feeling. Why wasn’t I elated? Hadn’t I submitted my writing widely, collecting a mountain of rejections and a mound of acceptances? That writing wasn’t less divisive than Plague. I’d found the guts to read that divisive writing to audiences. Hadn’t I run a DIY poetry reading series? Hadn’t I provided developmental and line edits on a BDSM workbook? Hadn’t I jerry rigged a Wix based outsider art micropublication?
Want the advice?
I’d spent a decade cultivating impostor syndrome. I warped my perception until I believed no progress was enough.
You are not your impostor syndrome. “Struggling author” isn’t your identity. You’re ready to stop self-sabotaging.
Now what?
You still need help. Mine.
I’ve worked as a freelance editor since 2017; I’ve been involved in some of the most interesting outsider projects. I’ve worked as a book coach/consultant with WritebyNight since 2022. I earned a BA in Creative Writing from CSUS in 2009, then an MFA in Writing & Poetics from Naropa University in 2015. On the way, I’ve been published one hundred times.
So, how can I help?
Perhaps you’re starting at the beginning, no ideas, or too many. Your indecision petrifies you. Your cursor remains still, or, worse, you write, then delete, again and again. Get your umbrella, let’s brainstorm.
You might need help from the start to establish tone, style, plot direction, character development, and narrative arc, allowing you to rework as you’re writing. Book coaching is your friend.
Maybe you want the above but know jumping into proofreading would overwhelm you so much you’d throw your laptop. Go directly to developmental editing, do not collect $200.
Or your ideas are fleshed out and you want to ensure the writing is clear, readable and has a consistent style. Choose copy writing.
Or you’re ready to go over the work with a microscope. You’ll be damned if an error will stand between you and your book contract. You need proofreading.
Maybe you want a perspective not of a professional, but from an audience member. The problem? Friends and family are too nice, so you’re spinning in a doom cycle of disbelieving good feedback and believing the opposite. You want someone both compassionate and honest. You want beta reading.
Stop self-sabotaging. Request a quote today. Let’s start the journey together.