Writing inspiration: slow and steady

On the power of BELIEVING in and supporting your dreams, plus a book publishing update

Nov 28, 2024

Dear readers,

My, you have been patient this year!

Every time I get an email announcing a new subscriber (welcome!), I feel so appreciative. I completely recognize that I haven’t written more than a few editions of Doing the Write Thing this year, and yet you have all continued to support this newsletter. Thank you to each and every one of you for believing in and supporting this writing community.

The number one reason why I worked on my newsletter less this year is that I have been working on my YA book, In Your Dreams. In one of the first editions of this newsletter, I said that I don’t normally work on more than one writing project at once; I find that novel editing is slow and can take years (!), and so I try to devote as much of my writing time as possible to that writing.

This year, I have really, really been working to finish editing In Your Dreams. When work seeps into the evening, my writing time gets pushed. There were times when I only worked on my book a couple of times in a week—or even in a month! I want to send this book out to literary agents A.S.A.P. to share this story with others, to spread some hope and inspiration from it, and to continue writing other stories I’m excited to write and share too.

Also, when In Your Dreams is at the querying step, I’m eager to support this writing community more through Doing the Write Thing—I’ve learned so much about editing that I’m eager to share with you too—and to pursue some of the other goals I shared when I announced that the theme of 2024 is “share.”

So, how do you go from trying to edit and edit and edit faster to actually finishing editing your book?

Every little bit counts

In July, I thought, what if I just decide that I’m going to work on In Your Dreams every day? What if I just decide that that’s what’s going to happen?

And it worked! Somehow, almost every day, I worked on my book.

Sometimes, when you choose to see something differently, opportunities reveal themselves. You see something you didn’t see before.

I recently decided to take that approach/mindset again (which I wrote about as part of writing tip #10: adopt a positive mindset), and so now I work on In Your Dreams almost every day.

As a fellow creative and I recently agreed, “slow and steady wins the race” (where “wins the race” = “achieves the goal”).

Just hit “publish”

While adopting that mindset, two of my closest loved ones coincidentally asked me the same thing: ‘What if you just publish your book?’

Me: ‘I want to, but it’s not done being edited yet.’

One of my best friends kindly pointed out that I have high standards, and that maybe the book is ready.

Me: ‘I know I’m a perfectionist, but the book has parts that legitimately do need editing.’

And she replied with an unexpected, super reasonable reply.

‘What if you publish it, and then keep working on it?’

Something clicked.

What a great idea.

That way, the book is finally being SHARED with others and I can keep working to get it ready for literary agents, and then can WRITE something new again soon!

I love the idea. I committed to it.

So you’re hearing this here first:

Starting January 15, 2025, In Your Dreams will be published in installments on Wattpad while I keep hurrying to finish editing it and send it out to literary agents!

And I can absolutely share updates when chapters are published if you’re interested. Please let me know using the poll below—and please know I absolutely understand if you prefer to stick to writing tips.

To thank you for all your patience and support this year, I’ve included a sneak peek of In Your Dreams below, as well as links to resources that hopefully help you on your writing journey.

Thank you again!

One of my favourite scenes from In Your Dreams

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I have to tell Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Kraig!” I reach into my bag for my phone and clash nose-first into someone’s shoulder.

“Oof!” I stumble backwards and a hand shoots out to catch me.

A leftie. I know that hand. It’s his.

I look up, not surprised to see Chris.

How did I know it was him?

“Jessie!” Chris looks very concerned. “I’m so sorry, your knee—” His brow furrows and he shakes his head. “Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah, thank you.” That’s right—didn’t I hurt my knee recently? I stare at his hand on my arm.

Chris yanks his hand back, turning red. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“No, you were helping me—”

Casey’s eyes are darting back and forth between us, a knowing grin on her face.

“Thank you,” I conclude. “Don’t text and walk into people, right?”

“It happens to the best of us.” Chris gives me a smile that reaches up into his familiar brown eyes. “So, I guess you came to see who made the team?”

This is where we’ll gather around the virtual cozy fireplace to talk about writing and participate in fun writing exercises and contests!

Here are some of the writing communities I subscribe to that share useful writing tips and workshops in their newsletters:

So You Think You Can Write: a weekly email with information on writing submissions and inspiration, plus writing workshops
Quick Brown Fox (there’s a newsletter too): local Ontario writing workshops that are typically very affordable, online workshops and tons of information on literary agents and publications accepting submissions
Jane Friedman: information on writing workshops that are usually about $25 US

Doing the Write Thing