[woman writes book]

“How’s the book going?”

Well, I wrote a first draft — that’s good. Then I read the first draft — that was less good. I’m proud of myself but I want to push myself. Now I face the dreaded Next Steps™. The part where a draft becomes an asset and I enter the fray of revising, querying, and publishing. Before I finished a draft of a book I was a writer but only in the macro. I wrote in a whimsical way — tucked in my apartment, gazing out the window, lighting candles, drinking bourbon. Now I am a writer in the micro. I have a finished product and can no longer hide from myself behind myself from the reality that I really really want to do this for real.

“How’s the book going?”

I’m an extremely reluctant self-promoter and yet I can’t seem to shut up about the fact that I’m working on a book. Do you see a problem?

Some could call this “playing the game” — prematurely putting myself out there because publishing is a competition of tenacity and popularity. But I’d prefer it if we just referred to this as a casual way for people who know me (and maybe people I don’t) to keep up with the ever-present question of [see above and below].

“How’s the book going?”

Yes. :)

---

I’m Emily, welcome to my newsletter about writing a book. This is chiefly going to be a semi-personal diary of The Process post draft 1. The ultimate goal is a record of The Journey. I will answer the perennial question of how the book is going, offer up what I’ve learned, what my challenges are, and continually talk myself into further pursuing this until I reach the end.

Some other things you could perhaps expect here: insights, writing advice, history lessons, book recommendations. You may have arrived here from a prior newsletter project about cooking that I was going to revive and then didn’t because I decided to go all-in on writing a gothic horror novel instead. So, sure, expect cooking too.

Subscribe for all that and maybe more. Much love. More to come.

-Em

---

Emily Denny is a writer, editor, person, and woman-about-town who lives in Washington, D.C. She holds a degree in English (naturally) from Clark University and is a born and bred New Jerseysian.