Life as a writer is nuts, man!

Well, I can't say that I'm super proud of my last few posts on this blog, but I'm back to give an update and I'm not going to delete them. So there. I guess.

picture of a stack of Teammates books
Draft copies of the Teammates series for my beta-readers,
with a little bi pride thrown in for my own entertainment.
The last year and a half have been a wild ride, my friends. What did I do? I wrote a book, fell in love with my characters and with writing, wrote a second and then a third, and learned that I detest the querying process. (Not necessarily in that order.) I also edited my pants off and have more editing yet to go.

Book one, Teammates: On Ice, is polished. It is ready to be read by agents and publishers. I am trying to get that to happen, although querying is painful and gives me All The Anxiety. I love this book and these characters are my fucking soul. It just needs to get published... which it will, one way or another. Some day. Soon hopefully. (Oh, hey, there's that anxiety again.)

Book two, Teammates: Take Shots, is my favorite of the three; it is my Empire Strikes Back - it is the book that doesn't end happily and still makes me cry. And I love it. (I'm dark and twisted like that.) And it is fairly polished as well. I say fairly mostly because I think maybe it could use another beta-reader. But I'm proud as fuck of that book.

Book three, Teammates: Full Strength, exists, but is still in need of some real work. I have a stack of post-its and a brain full of thoughts on how to polish it to make it better. I admit that I let myself get over-focused on one of the storylines to the detriment of the others. But I'm fixing it. It's a good book - there are parts that make me swoon - it just needs some nips and tucks.

Want to know what the series is about? I like to say it's Big Little Lies meets The Mighty Ducks. It deals with the real-life struggles of four women - Tessa, Fitz, Michelle, and Dawn - as they come together to make hockey an oasis where they can escape the challenges they face outside the rink and find support from their teammates. The series touches on serious issues relating to love, sexuality, abuse, mental health, parenthood, and loss. It's difficult at times but also very sweet and touching. And it's funny as fuck. (Honestly, 100% of beta-readers LOLed IRL.)

So in my attempt to get this published, I'm giving social media a bit of a "hello, again" run. My love is for writing, not marketing. But you gotta do whatcha gotta do, ya know?

If you want to read something that has been published. May I recommend the lesbian romance novel Lust in the Stacks by Natalie Falkenwrath. She and I are like, super close. I'm totally jelly that her book is out and mine isn't, even if that's because I'm trying to go traditional and she's "indie" published. It's fine. When I do get Teammates out it will be all the sweeter for the waiting.

Until next time!

No comments:

Post a Comment