Welcome to the chaos–I mean, journey. I’ve written my first young adult dystopian novel and you’re coming along for the ride. Buckle up.

This space is where I’ll share the behind-the-scene moments of my writing process and updates moving forward. All the good, messy, unexpectedly emotional and slightly over-caffeinated parts of my adventure will be here. Let’s rewind. I started this book the way all epic tales begin, by building an entire world in my head while grocery shopping. I mapped out the laws (all 162 of them), created maps, and cultivated an entire society. I dived into character development, even for the characters who never made it into the final draft. Justice for those imaginary people.

Then I sat down with my trusted writing software and typed. A lot. Like, 121,146 words worth of it. Fun fact: debut novels in this genre are generally expected to land somewhere around 90,000 words. Cute. I was fortunate enough to have a brave and supportive sounding board who read the early draft and eventually I trimmed the word count down to a leaner 110,000 words.

Once the panic wore off, I dove into edits. After many sleepless nights and a lot of anxiety, I was ready. The printing phase of the journey began. I heroically printed all 760-something pages from my home computer…with my husband’s help of course. Bless the miracle that is the laser printer, may it’s toner live forever.

Enter the magical assistance of beta readers. These kind souls read my manuscript and offered helpful feedback ranging from critiques, thoughtful insights and (cue dramatic music) my first real positive feedback from someone who wasn’t related to me. It was a moment. Naturally, the world of edits began again.

After a short break to celebrate my writing wins, I’m happy to report that edits are complete. Obviously, this means another round of beta readers.

This journey is far from over, and I’m thrilled you’re here to be part of it. Expect updates on the writing process, creative detours, what I’m reading, and maybe a little real-life chaos sprinkled in. Because balance, right?

Until the next plot twist,

Teresa