Prior to getting published, the biggest emotional challenge was all of the rejection.
It is easy to believe that your work really is awful. Now that I’m published I’m reeling from “imposter syndrome.”
It took me a month to work up the courage to listen to my own audiobook, because I was so scared I’d hate what I wrote when I heard it aloud.
I Used Rejection as a Challenge to Figure Out How to Make the Novel Better
In terms of the rejection, I used it as a challenge to figure out how I could make the novel better.
I read so many craft writing books to see where I could improve. It worked, because I got published!
With the imposter syndrome, every person who tells me they enjoyed my book helps. And frankly, having my daughter (who is still a baby) has been even more helpful. I simply don’t have the mental energy to worry about it like I used to!
Obviously it still affects me, and I’m a terrible self-promoter as a result, but I try to keep things in perspective: Not everyone is going to love my book, and those who do are the ones I wrote the book for.
I Make Sure I Go on Lots of Walks on Big Writing Days
UGH! Absolutely all the sitting time (and subsequent neck and back pain) is my biggest physical challenge.
I make sure I go on lots of walks on big writing days and whenever I need to hash out plot points with my husband, we will do that during a walk. When I want to get out of the house to write, I have to walk to a coffee shop or wherever it is I’m writing that day.
I make sure I exercise regularly, too, which helps. But frankly, nothing is a better antidote to hours of sitting that getting up and moving frequently!
Plotting My Novels Allows Me to Stay Creative
As counter-intuitive as it sounds, plotting my novels allows me to stay creative.
I need a direction to go in, otherwise I feel smothered by the unlimited possibilities. I do a lot of this with my husband, because he is a much different writer than I am, so he frequently comes up with ideas that I would never have considered.
I Will Never Again Have a Newborn Baby and Be on a Deadline for a Novel!
This is very much a work in progress! [Writing as a new mom.]
My daughter is 20 weeks old, so every day I am learning a little bit more about how to balance all the things in my life. It is very important for me to be present for her when she is awake, so right now I will write before she wakes up and during nap time.
Initially, I found I had no mental energy for writing (but, of course, I found plenty of energy to stress about the fact that I wasn’t writing while on a deadline). As she has gotten more predictable and easier, so too has writing.
Since I’m on a deadline, so I’ve got to figure it out! And every day I tweak my goals and my schedule just a little so that I can attempt to manage it all.
Let it be known I will never again have a newborn baby and be on a deadline for a novel!
My Debut Came Out When My Daughter Was 10 Weeks Old
I had so many plans about marketing for my debut novel. I thought, “Oh, I’ll be on maternity leave! I’ll have all the time in the world!” HA!
My debut came out when my daughter was 10 weeks old. I just couldn’t do anything in terms of marketing—I definitely had the time, but the energy was not there. I was hanging onto my sanity by a thread!
I am lucky to have a decent platform on Instagram, so I know my Instagram has helped. Through that platform I did a cover reveal and an ARC book tour to help drum up some buzz prior to the official release. Beyond that I haven’t done much.
As I mentioned before, the imposter syndrome makes me horrible at self-promotion! I’m relying on my readers to do the work for me. They’ll tell people they love the book and should read it.
I’ll tell people, “Um, you might like this… maybe… I don’t know. You know what, you’re really busy so never mind!” 😆
Juggling the Author/Vet/Mom/Wife Life Isn’t Easy
This is another work in progress that I’m still getting the hang of [fitting writing into my busy life].
I’m a veterinarian for my day-job, and I’ve been back from maternity leave for a month now. I’m getting the swing of juggling the author/vet/mom/wife life, and it’s not easy.
Unfortunately exercise is the first thing to be on the chopping block, so trying to fit that in with everything else is getting harder by the day as my exhaustion ramps up! Instead of morning workouts, I’ll do some writing. Waking up early to write before work or before my daughter wakes up has been the only way I’ve found time to squeeze writing in.
Advice for a Young Writer: Be Prepared to Work for It
I truly believe you can do anything you want to do if you’re prepared to work for it. It will happen easier for others, but so long as you persevere and don’t get bogged down by comparisons, you will absolutely will succeed.
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A.S. Thornton has evolved from book blogger to author with a particular fondness for writing forbidden love in ancient deserts. She lives with her husband (who deserves a trophy for the amount of gooey love scenes he’s edited), their tiny human, and four cats in Northern California.
When not writing, she’s taking care of dogs and cats as a veterinarian. You’ll never find animals at the center of her writing, though. Those fictional worlds don’t have veterinarians and her literal brain can’t accept that the poor critters would be without parasite prevention.
For more information on Ms. Thornton and her work, please see her website, or connect with her on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook.
Daughter of the Salt King: An epic, romantic fantasy where the desert meets the sea, about the magic of wishes—and their unintended consequences.
As a daughter of the Salt King, Emel ought to be among the most powerful women in the desert. Instead, she and her sisters have less freedom than even her father’s slaves … for the Salt King uses his own daughters to seduce visiting noblemen into becoming powerful allies by marriage.
Escape from her father’s court seems impossible, and Emel dreams of a life where she can choose her fate. When members of a secret rebellion attack, Emel stumbles upon an alluring escape route: her father’s best-kept secret—a wish-granting jinni, Saalim.
But in the land of the Salt King, wishes are never what they seem. Saalim’s magic is volatile. Emel could lose everything with a wish for her freedom as the rebellion intensifies around her. She soon finds herself playing a dangerous game that pits dreams against responsibility and love against the promise of freedom. As she finds herself drawn to the jinni for more than his magic, captivated by both him and the world he shows her outside her desert village, she has to decide if freedom is worth the loss of her family, her home and Saalim, the only man she’s ever loved.
Daughter of the Salt King is the first book in the Salt Chasers duology.
Available at CamCat Publishing, Amazon, and wherever books are sold.