You Are Not Alone
Many people, I think, imagine writers alone in a room in front of a computer screen furiously typing their stories. While this is absolutely true for me, I also email all day with a few close author friends until we need a new thread because so many messages are flying back and forth. We talk about our hopes and fears and lift each other up so we can get words on paper.
I would not be able to do what I do without that communication. Over the course of a day, a writer feels elation, excitement, and exhilaration; terror, anxiety, and self-doubt. A single email can be both life-changing and crushing. Without my author friends, I don’t think I would have been able to make my dreams come true. And I definitely didn’t do it on my own.
JUMP began with a what-if scenario as I waited for a subway on a platform. I scribbled it down on an empty gum packet then immediately emailed my closest author friends whose talent blows me away and opinions I always trust.
With their unwavering support and killer insights, I wrote the book. I wouldn’t have imagined querying it until they’d read it, critiqued it, and gave me what I know is their brutally honest feedback. I welcome that feedback. In fact, I love it. I’m not sure why I revel in the toughest edits and input. Maybe because I know in my soul the book is not yet fully developed. I often can’t see what it needs to get there. I love to learn. I want what I write to be the best it can possibly be while I still have the chance to make it so. I can’t do that by myself. And because of my writing community, I signed with my agent.
Then it was my agent’s turn. My agent, who somehow saw into my heart and knew what I wanted to do with JUMP. Who worked with me, draft after draft after draft, line by line, and word by word. She, too, became an integral part of my community.
While on submission, my author friends checked in with me literally a hundred times a day. They virtually held my hand, boosted my confidence when it was at its lowest, and celebrated with screams and cheers when my agent sold my book to Simon and Schuster Canada, Headline UK, and in countries around the world. When I expressed utter shock, they told me they always knew it would happen.
Now I have an editor(s). Someone who also believes in me and JUMP, who guides me meticulously and brilliantly through each and every word, showing me what my story needs to be the best it can. Again, I welcome it. I thrive on it. Because what a relief it is to have someone by my side, who’s worked on some of the best thrillers on the shelves, to work with me. And of course, my author friends are there.
Ones in Toronto who I’m lucky enough to meet for dinner, and others who I only get to see every January when we all convene for a writers’ retreat/girls’ trip in California. And the suspense/thriller authors who have welcomed me with open arms, generously answering questions and making me feel so at home.
It’s not easy to reach out, especially online, to other writers. It’s not easy to hear that your book needs work, maybe a lot of it. But together, with people who love and support you, only want the best for you and your career—your dream—it is possible to reach goals you might never have imagined could actually be achieved.
I did it. But I didn’t do it alone. And I hope I never will.
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Samantha Bailey is a Toronto-based journalist who has written extensively for Now Magazine, Oxford University Press, and many other publications. She is the co-founder of “BookBuzz,” a promotional and interactive author event held in New York City and Toronto that has attracted the attention of prominent publicists, influential media, and bestselling authors.
She holds a Master of Education in Applied Linguistics and credits that degree with her writing career because she wrote her first (unpublished) novel after taking a course on imagination. Now her imagination leads her to create dark and twisty stories, and her debut psychological thriller, JUMP, will be published in North America with Simon and Schuster Canada, the UK with Headline, and translated into six languages. She loves reading as much as writing, so when not tapping away on her computer, she’s probably curled up with a really good book.
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Category: How To and Tips, On Writing
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I love this article. And I love YOU, Samantha Bailey, for your tenacity, your fearlessness, your storytelling—and most of all because you always speak from your heart. It is an honor to have you as a friend.
Josie, from the moment I met you, I knew I’d found a soulmate. I was and am such a huge fan of your writing and I remember being so giddy just to be near you. You have been such a great support to me in so many ways, and you give such sage advice. I love you so much.
This is brilliant! I used to have a similar writing community when I first started writing but it disappeared about the same time social media took over and I began focusing on music. But now that I’m jumping back into writing more, I’d love to find a writing community that emails. It’s more personal.
Thank you, Kathy! I, too, prefer email, but I do find that quick PMs and DMs really boost my motivation and make me feel a part of something so wonderful. Good luck with your writing!
Sounds like your co-authors are a great group of women. Congratulations on your upcoming book. It pays to be connected and have support. WTG!
Thank you so much, B. Lynn! They are such an amazing, talented group of women, and I feel so lucky to have them in my life.
I love this so much! IT’s our community that makes us strong, gives us hope, cheers us on, and often dries our tears. I love to write, but the human journey is the true delight in this road we’re on. Congratulations on your newest success!!
Thank you, Whitney! You’re part of so many of the writing/reading groups I’m in, and it just feels so good to know we support each other and recommend fantastic books to each other. The human journey is so important because we can then really understand that our journeys are our own, there is no right way or time to do this, and we have each other.