16 years of work, 10 years in publishing.
Time goes amazingly fast, doesn’t it? Maybe it’s just me.
My first novel, The Sky Always Hears Me and the Hills Don’t Mind, came out in September 2009. My kid was 11. I’d been at my job for 10 years, married for 17. The book is set in Nebraska, and I’d lived away from there for 17 years.
Now I have 4 published novels. My kid can legally drink in a bar, and he drives the car I was driving then. He’s lived in Italy twice. I’ve been at my job for 20 years. I’m in better shape. I have a different dog, plus 2 cats. I’m still married. My dad’s been gone for 8.5 years, my mother-in-law for almost 8 months. I won the Stonewall Award for my second novel. I’m working on my sixth. I found out I’m neurodiverse. I’m an interfaith minister.
10 years is forever and no time, all at the same time. Life is the same, and it’s not. One thing that’s NEVER changed in these 10 years: my gratitude to be in 1) Minnesota’s writing community, and 2) the YA/kidlit community, especially in Minnesota. So many, many kind, generous, and talented writers in this dang state, and in our kidlit community, plus the nationwide kidlit folks–I’m so humbled to be a part of these crowds! I’m so lucky to live where I do! I will always be happy I married a Minnesotan and moved home with him.
Also (of course!): I’m grateful people read my books. Readers = BEST PEOPLE EVER. Thank you, readers! It’s a humbling thing, to have people interact with your art. I’m so glad the outsiders in my books have found homes in the hearts of others. Though I didn’t read the reviews (too hard on the soul), I noticed Wreck has 40 votes and 19 reviews on Goodreads, and Beautiful Music has 718 reviews, plus 6450 votes. For a tiny author like me, that’s AMAZING. I’m grateful I get to make art in the first place–writing these books has been so joyous!
Have I made mistakes in 10 ten years? OF COURSE. The internet doesn’t hide them.
Do I have any regrets? One major one: I haven’t been the book citizen I want to be. : (
Why should someone care about being a good book citizen? Because my writing life exists as part of a community, a community I care about.
My deficits come from not spending more time on my writing career. Because my full-time teaching job is so intense, writing is my (very slow) side hustle. The day job pays bills and gives me insurance, so I need it. But my writing life suffers. My lack of time spent on my career results in 1) less time spent practicing writing and producing work, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY ) 2) less time spent supporting my fellow writers.
I want to read their books! I want to cheer them on! I want to write blog posts about them. I want to spend time on social media, chatting about how I love these people. I want to go to conferences and talk their work up. I REALLY want to be a cheerleader for the writers who are providing mirrors and windows for kids of every kind, supporting young readers of all kinds in every way they can. I want to be a good colleague! And I haven’t been. I will do better.
In this next decade as a writer, I’ll spend more time in my book life. Less day job, more writing and supporting other writers. I’ve promised myself. And my agent.
Ten years. Wild. I had no idea I could write novels. Then the real Tessa (from Sky) gave me the perfect idea for one. And here we are.