Right before I turned 40 I decided I had to get a story about lost pencils on paper. I wrote it fast and furiously. Really, it was a short story, but it didn’t have much of a grab. Sure, my friends loved it and thought the concept was cute—Where do all the lost pencils go in schools? To an underground pagoda below the classroom floor, that’s where. I tried sending it out to a few publishers. It was nowhere near ready, but what the heck did I have to lose? I was new! This was fun! 

From there, I wrote a few picture books, until a writer comrade named Sabrina told me (while waiting for our girls in the dancing school waiting room): You know, I don’t know if your voice is for picture books. Have you thought about Middle Grade? Why no, I hadn’t. But soon after, I whipped out a 45K word novel that I am currently in love with and revising. I queried the original version WIDELY. 119 rejections, 6 requests, and zero offers. Again—what did I have to lose? At this point I was about 41 years old and writing at home, along with tutoring several students during the week. 

In between all of this writing, I made sure I read. So many books. All books in the middle grade and young adult genre because I needed to be in that headspace and voice. If you don’t read, it’s hard to get a grip on writing. Am I a lifelong reader since childhood? NOPE. I read a lot as a child until I hit about 12. Then sports, dance, boys, and having fun was my priority. I was a solid student, but still not a real reader the way my husband and my friends Maegen, Danita, and Kathryn are. They are READERS. I have only joined their forces over the past few years. I guess I had to find the books I loved. I did. Now I am a reader. It’s never too late. 

So here I am with my middle grade novel. No requests, no love from agents or publishers. Wait. That’s not true—I joined Twitter and got ballsy. I networked and reached out and asked a lot of questions. There were massively supportive people in the publishing industry, even if you aren’t their client. Because it’s so saturated and competitive, when you get some support it’s like finding gold in a field of the farthest thing from gold. What would that be? Plastic with BPA? Anyway…I asked, read, and paid attention. 

It helps if you have friends that give you tough love too. Adena, one of the two bffs, would make me so angry that I’d want to hang up on her. She’d push me to my limits asking me really hard questions about my characters and their motivation and say things like—“why do I REALLY care about Nina? Why do i really need to read this?” Thank you. also, Benita— thank you for calling me almost daily to remind me that we are more than moms. 

Then in August of 2018 I began writing another middle grade novel, Black Licorice, which turned out to really be Young Adult. This book helped me mourn one of my college friends who died young. It was an exercise in therapy. And I kid you not, he was with me on the journey. I got all kinds of messages from him. Ones that would blow your mind. That’s another blog. Another time. 

My husband read this novel—Black Licorice—for me. He gave me notes and really focused. My friend Danita read it the same way, and an amazing freelance editor named Alison Cherry read/developed it with me. It was a hot mess. I revised, cried, cheered…all of the things writers do. Panic, elation, imposter syndrome—I went through all of it. 

Now, after forty-something nos from agents, I got 6 requests for the whole book from small presses. AH! Maybe a small press is my path. I have no problem with that. As long as I find people who understand Freddi (my Main Character) the way I do. And it turns out they live in Arizona. Yes!!! I am officially an Inked in Gray Publishing author. Please find them on Twitter and follow them. Humans with warm hearts and books to put into the world. There were so many other things I could tell you about this journey, like the howling at the full moon, and the candle rituals, but I prefer to not be scary right now. 

So please…if you make art—accept that it really is a PROCESS and you cannot do it alone. 

Love,

Elaina 

Three links. One to my publisher’s page, the other to music, of course, and the final one to the freelance editor/author who helped me get here.

Inked in Gray  Alison Cherry

This link because this song ALWAYS follows me when I accomplish a thing: