Oh! I remembered another thing I saw floating around here that I wanted to talk about: the "fallow" period, where maybe it's been a while since you published your last book and you've got nothing ahead, or you do but it's *so* far ahead. Then what?

So, first of all, I do think authors overstate in their own minds how important it is to publish constantly from a "will people remember me?" perspective. Like, yes! They will! Even if they're not thinking about you right now, you'll come back as "author of That Book They Liked."

Ppl don't have to remember how much they loved your earlier work to be excited for your next one. Perfect illustration of this is how many authors have been called debuts on book, like, five. Your target audience ages out no matter what, so you're always new and old anyway.

I don't know how much people have interalized this about me/my career, but:

1) I went about five years without an agent
2) COOL FOR THE SUMMER is my first novel in five years and YA in six
3) I was strictly small press and self-pub until 2019

Did you forget about me? I mean, maybe! Lucky you if you did, I guess!

Have you read my earlier work? Most of you have not, if my royalty statements are to be believed!

Does any of that matter right now? I dunno, doesn't really seem to!

So, what was I doing?

1) Writing short stories for anthologies. I published nothing but short stories in 2017 and 2018. And since I didn't have my own books to promote, I promoted those anthologies with the fervor of them being my own. Why not? Helps the editor, my work is in them - everybody wins!

2) I blogged. So much. Some of it was paid, some was not. I also promoted other people's books a ton on here and Instagram, because it's what I like to do! And I love to read! And it's a really nice way to keep yourself engaged in the community *and* keep your brain creative.

I'm a big believer in finding other writing outlets when drafting a novel is just. Not. Happening for you right now. If you like writing personal essays, or guest posts for your backlist, poetry, this is your time to shine! Flex different muscles. Find new corners.

I found writing impossible for about 18 months beginning in my third trimester with my older son. I wrote pieces of novels that just. Did. Not. Work. And it took me too long to put them aside. But.

My 2022 book is built on that work. Sometimes it takes different inroads.

The work you're struggling with in this period may find its use later. But I would gently suggest that if it feels like months of pulling teeth, you don't do yourself any favors by hanging on to it right now, especially if you're not under contract.

There's a lot of mental focus in this time on the opportunities you're not getting, the things you're missing out on. I couldn't even dream of how I *would* move forward, bc w/o an agent I didn't know what to focus on that would most likely get an agent. It's a lousy cycle.

I landed on COOL FOR THE SUMMER for two reasons:

1) It was the only thing I was working on that didn't feel like pulling teeth
2) It required the least research, which allowed me to write it on my commute and not need to constantly look things up, which gets in my way a lot

Realistically, you have no idea what's actually going to work. No one does. I've seen ppl sell books for bonkers money that has no obvious audience for it IMO, and ppl shelve books I would've killed to have on my shelf. Now more than any time, just write what drives you forward.

And if you find that you're mired in thinking about the opportunities you didn't get, the things you feel you would've nailed and never even got to fight for, let *that* drive you forward. Write that story anyway and see where it takes you.

One thing I see a lot as an anthology editor is people acting like that collection was their one shot to write something in that vein, and it's such toxic thinking. Every single anthology in YA is in conversation with novels in the same vein. Every single one.

IP is its own thing and I know you can't just write/publish your own Batman novel or whatever, but pull it back - what was so special about the version *you* wanted to do? What were you going to bring to that character? And where else might you be able to do that in your work?

Oh wow, I thought this was gonna be like a four tweet thread. I guess I'm avoiding work more deeply than I thought. But anyway!

tl;dr: in the "fallow" period, staying on the radar can be as simple as sticking around to support your peers, and also it's a gift for new skills

Oh, and if you have *anything* at this time, be it an antho contribution or a paperback release, just promote it with the same fervor you would a new novel, bc why the hell not? You've probably got the time and you deserve to celebrate yourself. (And your editor will love you.)

Really, the thing I most want to emphasize is to unshackle yourself from what it "means" that you're having a fallow period because the mental weight of it will bury you, and for what?

The Before is Phase I of your career.
You're now working on launching Phase II.
That's it.