A hearty thanks to those who have already been asking about my book! Your encouragement has given me the strength to move along, and your questions have challenged me to pursue different ideas that I had not considered.
My mom has been my editor since I was writing essays in third grade. When I was young, she knew that I had the passion to one day write books, and she grew and nurtured that passion in me from an early age. When kids my age were getting trophies for writing the first sentence that came to mind, my mom was chasing me and my homework around the house with a red pen, ready to edit my creative writing assignments. I remember having to answer writing prompts at least once a week in third grade. After every writing assignment, my mom would give me at least one new piece of advice. From her, I learned about word usage, avoiding run-on sentences, and so much more! It has been a pleasure hearing her feedback about my book. I wanted her to run through the book and make sure the story line made sense before I sent it to a literary agent to get it checked.
They say that success is all about who you know. God blessed me with a great mother who encouraged me to be successful in writing. I made a lot of wonderful friends in college who urged me not to give up on my dreams. Now that I’ve written this blog, I’ve had so many opportunities to meet people who love writing just as much as I do, or who have resources that can benefit me as a writer. Social media (particularly Twitter and Facebook) have opened doors to new possibilities for me to promote my writing.
Because of social media, I’ve been made aware of several conferences for writers.
Because of social media, I’ve been able to have conversations with others about emotions and anxiety, which is a major theme in my book.
Because of social media, I’ve been asking for help and getting answers.
Because of social media, I’ve discovered new writers who are trying to get their books published as well (and I will be creepy and encourage them, since it’s OK to do that on social media!).
Because of social media, I’ve promoted a story that I wrote, and it might be in a newsletter soon!
Basically, I didn’t realize the resources that I had in Twitter and Facebook. While Facebook connects me to people I know, Twitter connects me to companies, authors, publishers, articles, books, and news agencies. On Facebook, I can spread hope among my peers, and on Twitter I can gain the resources I need to spread that hope even further.
So…this week, I will be utilizing more social media. I think I’ve gotten the hang of Facebook, but there’s much to explore on Twitter.
This week’s goal is to find a literary agent (one who can professionally edit my book and will connect me to a nice publisher). Say some prayers that God leads me in the right direction with that. I’d always thought I would be self-publishing my book, but I think that it would be better to have my book published with a well-known company. So the whole idea of a literary agent and a publisher and submitting a manuscript is totally new for me.
If you have any feedback to help with promoting my book, finding a publisher/literary agent, or using social media, drop a comment below! Thanks again for all who are reading. Keep a lookout next week for another update!
Elisabeth Warner 