And the innocence of writing first words
Earlier this week, I had lunch with my editor. We were talking podcasts, and she raved about Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ podcast, Wiser than Me. Have you heard of it? I hadn’t. I mean, I’m not a huge podcast listener unless it’s Gabby Bernstein’s Dear Gabby or a writing and publishing podcast — and still it’s rare.
Anyway, she highly recommended the podcast where Julia interviews older women like Jane Fonda, Amy Tan, and Diane von Furstenberg “to get schooled in how to live a full and meaningful life.”
It piqued my interest because all women’s stories matter. So much so, that as I enter this new era of writing, I’m committing to always having at least one main character who is within a year or two, on either side, of my current age. I’m going to be 47 in a few days, so you can do the math.
To some of you, that might be young, to others it might seem older. It’s all about perspective and perspective changes as we age, right? Any way, that’s important to me because as I age, I want to read about women who are my age.
So, a day or two later, on the way to meet a friend for dinner, I checked it out, specifically the episode with bestselling Chilean author, Isabel Allende. I’ve read several of her books, including House of Spirits and Daughter of Fortune. A fan of her sweeping, multi-generational novels, I was eager to hear her speak about her life and writing.
And man, was she a hoot! You should check it out wherever you listen to podcasts.
Toward the end of the episode, she spoke about how she wrote her first book at 40, House of Spirits, and what that experience was like. Here is what she said:
“I had no idea what I was doing. I had no plan. I had no script. I had nothing . . . I wrote with innocence and with the spontaneity that I could never have again. After the, the [sic] first book was a success. And then after that, I realized that there was a world out there, the the [sic] book industry that I had never imagined it existed, editors, agents, publishers, marketing, publicity, distribution, I didn’t know anything about it. And so when I wrote my first novel, I had the freedom that I never had again.”
Excerpted from the Wiser than Me podcast.
Allende has gone on to have a prolific writing career, publishing 28 books, and I have achieved nowhere near the success she has, but as I listened to her speak those words I was nodding along and audibly whispering in my car, “Yes. Yes.”
I have often told people that The Waiting Room was the most genuine writing experience I’ve had. Why? Because like Allende, I wrote with innocence. I wrote with spontaneity. I wrote for no one but myself because I knew I had to finish a book, finally, and put it out into the world. I had no expectations of myself, of readers, of anything.
In October 2013, when I released The Waiting Room, the self-publishing industry was much different from what it is today. It was less crowded and still stigmatized. Not every reader would give a self-published book by a new author a shot unless it was free, if even that.
Today, self-published and traditionally published authors compete (somewhat) equally for readership and attention. It’s wonderful, but it’s also raised the bar and makes it harder to write a bestseller. In 2013, I sold hundreds of copies of The Waiting Room for months after its release, easily catapulting it to number one and the top 10 Women’s Fiction bestseller list on Amazon for weeks. Today, I would have to sell thousands IN A DAY to break into the top 100 for that category.
In 2024, writing a book isn’t just about telling a great story.
You must think about how readers respond to the cover and the title. Do they fit the book’s genre? You must spend hours tweaking your blurb to get it just right and then you have to do it again months later to make sure you’re using the right keywords to reach people who actually want to read a book like yours. The tweaking doesn’t really end, not if you want to continue selling.
Writing a book to sell requires a business strategy, which is why I’m re-releasing The Waiting Room with a new title and cover this year. It’s also why I had it re-edited.
I knew there were problems with the editing early on, but I didn’t think it was too bad until I made myself read reviews. And please know this is nothing against my first editor. We know what we know at the time.
That being said, my most recent book, The Murder Lawyer, is a much better product (Note that I said product, not story. Although, I think the story’s amazing.). The main takeaway from readers who weren’t too thrilled with my first book wasn’t the story, it was the grammar and typos.
I’ve fixed those issues, leading up to the re-release.
But my point, what I’m really trying to say, is that there’s something magical about writing your first book and having no expection from yourself, your readers, or the publishing industry. It’s a freeing experience and to hear Allende share her sentiments, writing her first book and how closely they aligned with mine, was fabulous.
As I get back to writing this year after a nearly year-long break, I know I can’t recreate the magic of being a first-time author, but I hope I can write with that same ease and let go of the outcome.
Do I want a bestseller in 2024? Of course, I do, but that’s not the goal.
The goal is to conjure up some of that early magic writing and tell a story I’m proud of and one I’d love to read.
And, in case you were wondering, I haven’t chosen the new title yet. However, the survey results from last week’s email and some polls I did on social media are favoring What We Leave Behind. I’m going to do a little more research and strategizing and decide soon on the new title, then it’s on to the new cover.
I can’t wait to share the process with you.
I hope you have a great week!
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