ok so i'm a writer...a timeline please?

so you want to write a book. a novel, in fact. and you have this great idea...you know how you'll start it, how you'll end it, oooo and the twists! you have even figured out all the little things like the cover, the fonts, the way your name will spill across the front of the whole thing. it's amazing. so...like, how long will all this take?

i'm being silly, but this isn't a joke. it's how the idea of being an author comes about. it's simple, and i don't know of any other beginning to a passion besides this: this is what i want to do. followed by: how hard could it be?

well, since i'm technically still an amateur, i can say this with utmost honesty. the revelation is simple, but the process can get complicated if you are thinking everything will transpire in a couple months.

we took ourselves very seriously. #growingupdancers

united center after my set.

i started my first idea when i was just getting off the road with nkotbsb (new kids on the black/backstreet boys) in the summer of 2011. even though i had been super duper busy...barely had time to shower at night--gross, but true--i had gotten two big ideas while i was on the bus. one, was that i wanted to take a stab at writing a novel...and the second was my stationary shop on etsy (the piecemeal shoppe).  anyway, i took some time i had after the tour to start to start both...the idea for my novel  was called sentences, which, incidentally, i am starting to recycle into a new book series... i thought i would get it started, write the thing, and see what happened. but then, i got another idea for from the desk of a serial monogamist, and it was a much lighter than the first one. so i jumped ship.

after the show in la

 they say the hardest thing is to finish. that's probably right because you can't really do anything with a story until you actually finish it. so i made darn sure i did that, if not for someone else, to show myself i could do it. i did it. i finished it on my honeymoon of all times...don't worry, i had permission from my new husband because he read all week. we're weird i know.  and i nervously sent it off to this girl i had just met at my wedding to read. in bullet points, it sounds like it just "happened" and maybe it did a little bit, but not without a lot of rewriting, not knowing, hoping, praying, and really digging deep into the confidence cookie jar. but she did end up becoming my agent, and i could not have found a better one for me. i love my sarah.

when sarah came to nashville!

with mase and sarah's sister marissa (senior at vandy)

i've been asked before how to get an agent...i honestly don't know. if my husband of literally 12 hours hadn't said something at our post-wedding breakfast at the hutton hotel in downtown nashville, i don't think i would have one yet! i can only thank the good Lord for the blessing, the wedding gift of sorts. sarah was just...there. and she was willing to take a chance.

so fast forward to now, early 2014. from the desk of  a serial monogamist was the story that got the attention of sarah and the amazing ladies at stonesong, but after i mentioned another idea i had for the future, we did an about face and i started on falling stars. i wrote the first draft in two months--it's amazing what you can do if you have a little fire under your bum--but that was in the spring. since then, it's all rewrites, genre switches, reading, critiques, feedback, copy editing, etc.

and i have loved every moment of it. am i absolutely crazy?? maybe. but the hand cramps, brain spins, and overload of coffee has made me so freakin' happy. so the point of this post was not to actually give you a timeline. there isn't a typical anything in the literary industry, just like there isn't one in music, just like there isn't one in any profession, any life for that matter! you just keep on going, fitting it in, trying things, taking notes, observing, building characters, making the fake people as real as the folks next door. you do it because you have to. you do it  because a timeline would be nice, but it's not the only reason you're trying to do something as lone and as committed as writing 300 pages without a monetary guarantee.

it won't be quick unless you're being commissioned or your a celebrity. i am neither even with my touring experiences. i am just a lover of pen and paper, a trapper keeper of every memory and observation i've ever had, and a storyteller. and that's enough.

we live in a world of instant. if you're not a huge success instantly, you probably aren't going to make it. at least that's what the world tells you. and i have been known to buy into it. but actually writing a book isn't instant, so it stands to reason that the rest of the process wouldn't be either.


if you want to write a book, write it. start now. if you've already started and you want to finish, try to let go of any kind of timeline you saw yourself having so you can focus on the most important part: the story. make some doable timelines, but realize that you are a human living in a busy, instant world, and don't smack yourself over the head if you miss one or two. get back on that horse and keep going. it might take a while, but if you love it, it will be ok. one day, you will finish.

alright enough of me...get to writing.