That Time Amazon Improved My Self-Confidence

Today I'm loving: vintage pillow cases

and I'm listening to: SAIL Glitch Hop Remix by AWOLNATION

Writing has always been an extremely personal thing for me. The first person I ever asked to read a story I wrote was my mom and that was last summer. I went through a few hellish days filled with self-doubt after I pressed the send button on my email to her.  When I couldn't take her lack of response any more (because what could it possibly mean other than that she was sad to have raised such a talent-less daughter???) I called her and asked if she had started to read the manuscript. She had. And she loved it.

That was when I decided I might actually be able to do this.

6 months later my aunt tagged me in a Facebook post about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. It was January and I had three weeks to get my contest submission in before the deadline. I hemmed and hawed for a few days, reminding myself that my story, Return to Grace, still needed some major editing. But then I decided to go for it. What did I have to lose? Nothing. I had zero expectations my novel would make it past the first round of cuts.

So, I sent my unedited manuscript to my mom, aunt, and sister-in-law. Within a week I had their edits back, all with positive feedback. I made changes, sent out a revision or two, and was finally ready to submit my manuscript to the contest. ABNA cuts off at 10,000 entries and since the contest is worldwide, I was concerned I wasn't going to get my entry in on time. But I did.

A couple weeks later the first round results were posted on the ABNA website. My novel made it past the pitch round. The impossible happened! One month after that the second round results were posted. My novel made it past the Amazon Vine Reviewer round. The impossible happened once more. My book was now in the quarter finals. 10,000 entries submitted and 500 of those moved into the quarter finals. The English language doesn't have a word to adequately describe just how excited I was in that moment!

That is where the contest ended for me. My book didn't make it into the semi-finals. But that is also where my journey to publishing begins. You see, I told myself while I was waiting for each round of contest cuts that as soon as I was out I would do some more editing and then start looking for an agent. During that time I was also finishing PLURIUM.

I have my mom to thank for being my first reader and giving me the confidence to move forward. I have my aunt to thank for being the person to suggest I enter the Amazon contest. And I have my sister-in-law, Courtney, to thank for reading through a constant storm of emails from me which contain anything from plot questions and playlist ideas, to excerpts and character issues. I think Courtney is also my number one fan and that's a pretty cool feeling.

How Stephanie Came To Love Writing

Today I'm loving: Pomskies
and I'm listening to: Hurry Up We're Dreaming by M83

The first memory I have of enjoying writing was inspired by my sixth grade teacher, Mr. Van Meter. We were assigned the task of writing a short story which I recall completing with much enthusiasm. After our short stories were complete, Mr. Van Meter invited a published author to come in and give us each feedback. The author had a fluffy beard and complimented my work. Right then and there I decided I wanted to be a writer too.

And so began a life-long passion for writing. I became religious about writing in a journal. I started stories on notebook paper. Soon I had an entire binder filled with incomplete ideas.

When I was sixteen I had a fight with my parents and, a few days later, I began writing a story about a girl who finds out she was switched at birth. As I the story morphed from 1 page to 20, it became more about me finding a release for my emotions than actually interest in what I was writing. And then I noticed I had written over 100 pages and I thought to myself, Wow! Maybe I could actually finish this someday!

Fourteen years later I did finish that book. In fact, I finished it a mere four months ago. During those years it morphed from a story about a teenage girl who got what she wished for, to a story about a foster girl who meets her father for the first time and embarks on an epic journey through time. The only thing that I kept from that original idea was the main character's name: Miranda.

Binder filled with the stories I wrote throughout high school