Why You Should #JuNoWriMo: Road to Publication @sydliyah #AtoZChallenge

Why You Should Write a Book in June

This month for the A to Z challenge, I’m highlighting twenty-six reasons (alphabetically, of course) why you should write a book in June.

JuNoWriMo is our spin off of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) that takes place in June, challenging you to write 50,000 words in thirty days. In the past two years, JuNoWriMo has inspired hundreds of writers to get their books written, and I’ve asked a few of them to share their personal stories. Today Sydney Aaliyah Michelle sums up her experience in one phrase: Road to Publication.

Why should you write a book in June? THIS is why.

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R is for Road to Publication by Sydney Aaliyah

I was excited when Becca asked me to write about my road to publication. It seemed fitting since this blog is about JuNoWriMo and my book was written during 2013 JuNoWriMo.  Here is how Another New Life came to be.

May 1, 2013, I started my ritual planning on a new novel.  I sat down at a local Starbucks with my grande breve one Splenda latte and my lime green planning journal and plotted out the characters and scenes that will eventually become this book.

This story started differently than my other manuscripts. When I sat down to plan, I had no idea where the muse would lead me. I knew I wanted to write a New Adult novel in a Texas College Town. I wanted to write it from a women’s POV. I wanted her to share some of my own past, but whereas I didn’t get a chance to start a new life free and clear, I thought it would be interesting to explore what would happen if I did.

The original title for ANL was Return to Love, but that wasn’t the question I wanted to ask. I wanted to know if a person had a chance to start another new life, how would her old life affect it?

While the female MC, Miranda Preston, isn’t biographical at all, she is someone I would love to meet. She is a piano prodigy, and while she has a sad past, she is very hopeful about her future.

The male MC, Troy Anderson, is a gorgeous, tall, green eyed, muscular star quarterback of the college they attend.  I have a thing for quarterbacks.

I thought it would be cool to deepen their connection by making them childhood best friends, but with a twist, they haven’t seen each other in eight years.

During the first draft and through the first two rounds of edits, my intention was to query this story. I loved it and wanted to find an agent who loved it just as much. I had queried a previous story without good results, but I thought maybe it was the story (never mind that I didn’t query it enough).

Something kept preventing me from finishing the final edit that needed to be done on the story, and it was because of I didn’t want to start the query process. Query comes with rejection, and I don’t typically have an issue with that, but with this story, I did. I didn’t want to put it out there for the industry to reject it before they even had a chance to read it.  Another New Life was so personal to me. It wasn’t until I researched and decided to self publish that I was able to finish it.

A year to the day since I started on Another New Life’s journey, I will release it, and I couldn’t be more excited.  I can’t wait to share it with the world.

I am happy to have the opportunity to share my road to publication. JuNoWriMo holds a special place in my heart.  My first novel writing experience began during JuNoWriMo 2012 and I’ve been writing ever since.

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Another New Life is a New Adult Contemporary Romance by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle and will be available June 2nd, 2014.

It’s Your Turn

JuNoWriMo 2014 is going to be bigger and better than ever, so don’t miss this opportunity to write that book. I dare you to write 50,000 words in June. If you accept my challenge, know that you won’t be in it alone. You’ll be writing alongside hundreds of other authors who are going for the exact same thing, and that’s the best way to write. It’s gonna be stinkin’ awesome.

So, are you in?

Sign up for JuNoWriMo now!

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