Books I’m excited about this summer.

Every time a new book comes into the world, it represents someone’s dream coming true. A published book is a transformation: it means someone who was working on a book has turned into an author.

It brings me so much joy to share this crop of new books with you! Each one is written by a someone I know in the Sarah Selecky Writing School community.

It’s an honour to witness another person’s writing process. When I see them bring it to completion, I’m in awe. This never gets old.

Join me in celebrating the launch of these new books (drumroll please):

The Wild Beneath by Kelly Anderson

Skin Hunger by Frances Boyle

Bloom: Letters on Girlhood by Nicole Breit and Claire Sicherman   

Bad Advice by Susan Carpenter

Everyone Can’t Be Wrong by Sonal Champsee

The Make-Believe: A Memoir of Magic and Madness by Hannah Murray  

Brown Girls, Grown Up by Sima Qadeer 

What We Found Instead by Heidi Reimer

You Are Not As Broken As You Think You Are by Sara Stalker

When Your Parachute Fails and Other Success Stories by Lana Starchuck
*Forthcoming this fall

I’ve heard bits and pieces of some of these books as works-in-progress. I get a swimmy vertigo in my chest seeing them all in one place. Because I know what it takes to write a book. 

These projects have been years in the making.

To me, every book that gets published is kind of a miracle. It takes so much longer to write a book than it does to read it. A writer does not “whip up” a novel like one does a report. She seeds it, nourishes it, tends it, lets it rest, wakes it up, listens to it, gets help with it, and crafts it, word by freaking word. Oh, the highs and the lows writers live through!

Every author has choosen to make time and space for their creative work, and to prioritize that above other things, in a world that does not understand or value this choice.

Writing and publishing a book is thrilling, transformative and meaningful work. Also: it’s a lot.

It’s a non-linear journey. Everyone’s process is unique. It’s not like putting IKEA furniture together: there’s no manual on book writing that works for everyone.

It’s wild stuff, this writing business.

To put words to your vision, you not only have to have the ambition to start writing a fictional world into existence, but the courage to bring it to an end.

And all of that has to happen before you share it with the world!

I hope you feel inspired by this list of authors. Each one of them works differently, and while they asked for support along the way, each one of them eventually figured it out themselves, and wrote a book that nobody else could write.

Keep going. Keep working on it.

Instructions for writing a book:

1. Put your writing first, even if it’s for an hour a day.

2. Protect your attention.

3. Write something you want to read.

4. If you feel like quitting, rest until you feel like starting again.

5. If you’re comparing yourself to others, write a love letter to yourself.

6. If you don’t like what you’re writing, stop: you might be on the wrong track.

7. If you feel lost or confused, ask for guidance.

It’s not easy to do what you’re doing. It’s a lifetime dream for so many of us. For anyone who wants to be a writer, writing a book will change who you are. It’s a big deal.

I have so much respect for what you are doing.

Love,

Photo credit: Filip Mishevski on Unsplash.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something using one of these links, I may earn a commission. I only recommend books or products I trust.