What a busy year 2024 has been! So many opportunities for growth; so many acquaintances made; so many people supporting and helping me to achieve my goal – to become a published author.
“Jumping in Puddles” has been through round after round of revisions since January when my niece, Jessica, put the book into my hands, having lovingly hand-bound it into a beautiful hard-cover book. I am so thankful she was willing to use her unique talent to make my book a physical reality.
The next domino to fall into place was editing. In February, I took my very learned cousin up on her offer to read through and offer notes on my manuscript. I thought I’d get some grammatical corrections and perhaps some notes on continuity and flow, but my lovely cousin, Mo, is not one to go by halves! The notes I received from her pointed me to areas where I wasn’t being true to my characters, where my writing was pulling the reader out of the story, and how some of my scenes were unrealistic. Using her notes, I was able to correct many incongruities in the story and make it a much better read.
In March, I was able to sit down with my daughter, Alicia, who manages social media marketing for her company as part of her job, and look at ways to promote and market my book. She went over her Marketing Strategy document with me and pointed me to templates on the internet to help me set up my own strategy, then gave me a crash-course in Canva, the video editing program she uses for her promotions. Over the months since then, she has been a great resource to me as I try to build my strategy for my launch and promotion of my book once it’s released.
Then at the end of March, I was privileged to be able to attend the Book Launch for a former work colleague, Norman Mongiat, who had written and released his first murder-mystery book “Novembers.” It was a lovely evening of reconnecting with several former work colleagues and getting a feel for what a Book Launch would entail. It was an evening of music, readings, good food, and good company.
Over the months that followed, I received feedback from several of my lovely readers. This feedback along with the final notes from Mo that I received in June set me up to spend the next few months doing a major overhaul of my manuscript. Thank you to all of my beta readers – Donna, Yvette, Debbie, Victoria, Lauren, Cindy, and Maya – your feedback was invaluable! Can’t wait for you to read the final version!
In August, I attended the “Ignite Your Soul” author’s event here in Toronto and what an eye-opening experience that was! Entering a roomful of fellow authors with their marketing on display and their books for sale was almost overwhelming! But having the opportunity to speak to so many authors, many of whom wrote romance like me, was such a treat! And everyone seemed willing to spend a few minutes giving me the value of their experience as published authors. As I was leaving the venue, I added “Participate in this event next year” to my to-do list of things I wanted to do to promote my book.
The Mississauga Literary Festival took place in September at the main library in Mississauga and I had a similar experience talking to authors there. The difference with this event was that the authors were writing just about every different genre of book – everything from children’s picture books, sci-fi, non-fiction, poetry, young adult, paranormal, mystery, crime, etc. Again, whatever their genre, they seemed willing to spend a few minutes sharing their experiences with an aspiring author.
In October, my cousin, Denise, and I started chatting and I found that she is also an aspiring writer. Over the course of several conversations, we’ve found that having this touchstone with another writer on a similar journey has helped both of us (I hope! It certainly has helped me!) to be more focused on moving our agendas forward. I look forward to continuing our conversations in the new year and to both of us finding the success we seek in 2025.
So this brings me to almost the end of 2024 – the year I had hoped would see my book published and out into people’s hands and ereaders. However, my dear cousin, Denise, has helped me to realize that, as I have imposed this deadline, I can also extend it. She also feels that publishing fresh in the new year gives me the advantage of being able to say “This is my book, which was just published this year.” for a full year!
As the year draws to a close, I find myself busier than ever as I work to bring my book to you early in 2025. Once that goal has been achieved, my next task will be to choose which of my novels to release next. Do watch for information on the events I hope to attend as an author in the new year: “Rose City Romance Conference” in Windsor in June 2025 and the “Ignited by Books Author’s Event” in Toronto in September 2025.
