I would read your grocery list (also a follower from Nothing but Bonfires days!) and can’t wait to add “Christ, what ‘ave I done” to my internal monologue. Cheers to becoming the bride!
Also a reader from NbB days. Your writing has always been so easy to read - like a good chat… with someone I’ve never actually talked to! Good luck for your book and wahoo for the course!
As a former reader of NBB, I'm so glad you're back. As a fellow writer (albeit of copy, in a retail capacity, very different from Writer Writer), I never would have guessed that your process is laborious because it's so smooth, relatable and conversational, but with great turns of phrase and humor. It's really exactly how I imagine you speak. (Apologies if that sounds like I am dismissing your hard work. I do not think it is easy to choose the just right word, but your work never reads as if you're reaching for one. It's just there. Does that make sense?) As a fellow (now former) Cookie Manager, I feel your pain.
Okay, SO, I’m also a former Nothing But Bonfires reader—and, in fact, out of all the big blogs back in the day, yours was by far my most fave—and I’m stoked you’re back in newsletter form, yeheeeyyy. Huge and heartfelt congrats on getting a spot in the writing workshop, Holly, that’s wonderful. Not surprising, either, as you’re an exceptional writer! Kudos as well on starting a novel. Don’t worry about how long it takes, it’ll take as long as it has to and the duration won’t say anything about you or your time management. Time will pass either way! Case in point—and apologies for splicing this comment with my experience—I spent about 4ish years writing my 112,000-word debut novel, If the Fog Should Stay, and it was…a ride. From 2015 to late 2019 there were multiple times of wanting to throw it out or delete everything and, also, multiple times where I just wouldn’t open the doc for three, six or nine months. (Yeah, exactly.)
Don’t even get me started on how I barely touched it during the pandemic for all the fun editing, re-editing and, you guessed it, continued redrafting and re-editing <shudder>. I queried one big publisher in 2021 and nothing: it was an unsolicited manuscript submission—they had wanted just the first three chapters, though—which are quite common and allowed in Australia. And, hey, that’s fine, I expected a rejection. Even as recently as last week I was doing more editing/deleting/amending, and it was necessary, I noticed some “Ugh, WTF was that” things.
On the plus side, I’ve had about 20 beta readers over the last few years and, much to my great delight, pretty much all have said the book was unputdownable (squeee!), so that’s something. That, and the book-writing experience—although it made me at times want to tear my hair out—was one of the more exhilarating, fulfilling times of my life, no contest. Now to get my ass into gear and start querying a few more publishers and/or look into getting an agent, maybe. 😬
I would read your grocery list (also a follower from Nothing but Bonfires days!) and can’t wait to add “Christ, what ‘ave I done” to my internal monologue. Cheers to becoming the bride!
real time off the waitlist!! Is this newsletter my two favorite things- craft AND reality TV surprise reveals? LOVE IT
Love to have A Place To Read Holly's Writing again :-)
Also a reader from NbB days. Your writing has always been so easy to read - like a good chat… with someone I’ve never actually talked to! Good luck for your book and wahoo for the course!
It makes a very very big difference when you have something to say. All the difference.
As a former reader of NBB, I'm so glad you're back. As a fellow writer (albeit of copy, in a retail capacity, very different from Writer Writer), I never would have guessed that your process is laborious because it's so smooth, relatable and conversational, but with great turns of phrase and humor. It's really exactly how I imagine you speak. (Apologies if that sounds like I am dismissing your hard work. I do not think it is easy to choose the just right word, but your work never reads as if you're reaching for one. It's just there. Does that make sense?) As a fellow (now former) Cookie Manager, I feel your pain.
Okay, SO, I’m also a former Nothing But Bonfires reader—and, in fact, out of all the big blogs back in the day, yours was by far my most fave—and I’m stoked you’re back in newsletter form, yeheeeyyy. Huge and heartfelt congrats on getting a spot in the writing workshop, Holly, that’s wonderful. Not surprising, either, as you’re an exceptional writer! Kudos as well on starting a novel. Don’t worry about how long it takes, it’ll take as long as it has to and the duration won’t say anything about you or your time management. Time will pass either way! Case in point—and apologies for splicing this comment with my experience—I spent about 4ish years writing my 112,000-word debut novel, If the Fog Should Stay, and it was…a ride. From 2015 to late 2019 there were multiple times of wanting to throw it out or delete everything and, also, multiple times where I just wouldn’t open the doc for three, six or nine months. (Yeah, exactly.)
Don’t even get me started on how I barely touched it during the pandemic for all the fun editing, re-editing and, you guessed it, continued redrafting and re-editing <shudder>. I queried one big publisher in 2021 and nothing: it was an unsolicited manuscript submission—they had wanted just the first three chapters, though—which are quite common and allowed in Australia. And, hey, that’s fine, I expected a rejection. Even as recently as last week I was doing more editing/deleting/amending, and it was necessary, I noticed some “Ugh, WTF was that” things.
On the plus side, I’ve had about 20 beta readers over the last few years and, much to my great delight, pretty much all have said the book was unputdownable (squeee!), so that’s something. That, and the book-writing experience—although it made me at times want to tear my hair out—was one of the more exhilarating, fulfilling times of my life, no contest. Now to get my ass into gear and start querying a few more publishers and/or look into getting an agent, maybe. 😬