Haley Hamilton

I’d like to start off by saying I am no expert. The idea for my book basically popped up out of nowhere and knocked me over like it was a force of nature itself. The characters are constantly speaking to me– sometimes even waking me up with their nonsense while I try to write down the dialogue in the notes on my phone, blurry eyed, at all hours of the night.

I know this isn’t everyone’s process. Hell, I don’t even know if you could call it a process– more of a “let’s throw this at a page and see what sticks” type of controlled chaos. All that to say, I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I do know I love stories. And I think that’s all that really matters.

Back to the idea for my debut novel… After the initial thoughts struck me, and if I’m being honest, shocked me, I told my husband, “I think I have an idea for a book.” To which he responded, “That doesn’t surprise me at all. I always thought you should write a book.”

Well, then, sir. I will write the damn thing. So I did. It took me from the end of July (2023) through the end of October (2023) to write out a full draft, making all the regular mistakes of new authors: sending my sister the VERY FIRST DRAFT of the first couple of chapters (which I ended up completely rewriting, by the way), editing as I wrote, getting stuck in a rewriting/editing cycle, ditching the whole thing for about a week, and then finally just writing it to the bitter end.

Of course I also went through that first, brutal, read once I finished it. I think it was Stephen King that said something like “the first draft is just you telling yourself the story–” that is definitely what my first draft was. I did so much rewriting. But by that point, I was so in love with my characters and their adventure that I was actually having fun. It didn’t seem so urgent anymore– to just get the story out. Now I was really able to immerse myself.

I finally found a couple of critique partners. And truly, if I were to offer new writers one piece of advice, it would be this: find a critique partner. I don’t think I would have moved forward with publishing if it weren’t for my critique partner (and now we get to go through the horrors of querying together).

After receiving some positive feedback from beta readers, and going through some major edits one more time, I decided to start querying. And I decided to start my Instagram account for my book. That was in December, and now, I am in the querying trenches, trying to stay positive.

This most recent party of my journey has definitely been the hardest. And not because of the rejections from querying, but because I want other people to have this book so badly. I want them to fall in love with the characters like I have, and to be whisked away to a more magical version of the world we live in. But for now, I will continue querying, and look forward to the moment I can get this story into your hands.

I hope I can connect with other writers that are in the publishing stage– traditional or indie. This is a tough world and we have to stick together!