My Struggles as an Author

Writing books has not always been easy, especially when my ex-husband told me my writing was not good. That discouragement caused me to stop writing books for two years, where I focused on my school and my job. Yet something felt missing in my life, so I decided to return to what I loved: writing. I wrote When Stars Explode in six months. It was not a great first draft, but it helped me express everything I was feeling.

Then, I did everything I could to get feedback and improve my writing. Before, I only edited through the book myself. I sent drafts to the Writing Center at Ohio State University and had beta readers outside of the college. Even though it was hard to have my draft torn apart, I took the feedback and improved my writing, draft by draft, until I knew it was good enough to publish. Engaging with these different communities helped me see others’ points of view rather than just my own. They pointed out issues in my novel that I otherwise would not have seen, such as characters not acting consistently or not adding enough information in specific parts.

Nevertheless, this process of change was frustrating. Multiple times, I wanted to give up because the voices in my head told me to stop. I realized the only person holding me back from my true potential was me, not my ex-husband. I needed to get over the voices in my head and continue working on my book if I ever wanted to publish it. Once I pushed past those voices, I felt like I was finally doing what I had always dreamed of. I felt like I was doing what I needed for myself.