No one told me about this awful part of being an author

What to do when you HATE your WIP

Hi, friends! Two quick announcements before we get into today’s post.

First, I finally started a subscriber chat! Join us, introduce yourself, make friends! We'll use this space to help each other out: seeking beta readers and writing resources, sharing inspiration and wins, seeking accountability buddies, etc. Paid subscribers can start new threads (and I think all subscribers can reply? You tell me, the settings are confusing). Think of it as a private Facebook group of yore (minus the photos and weird drama from Aunt Edna). Y’all have so much knowledge and insight to share, and I’m excited to make this writerly space even more of a community.

Second, tomorrow is the last day of the Authors for Voices of Color auction! Every dollar goes to We Need Diverse Books, and there are amazing prizes for writers up for grabs: AMAs with your favorite authors (like Emily St. John Mandel, Cal Newport, Jenny Jackson, Carmen Maria Machado, Bonnie Garmus, and Megan Abbott); query critiques from top agents at The Book Group, P.S. Literary Agency, CAA, and more; manuscript critiques from bestselling authors (including Crystal Smith Paul, Julia Bartz, and Lara Prescott); book PR consultations; and so much more.

Then there are the amazing prizes for book lovers—handmade, one-of-a-kind creations from Celeste Ng and DéLana R.A. Dameron; books signed by Phoebe Robinson, Ashley Flowers, Jennifer Weiner, and yours truly (including an exclusive ARC of The Last Ferry Out!); and annotated copies and book-themed gifts from such authors as Julia Phillips, Yangsze Choo, and Tawny Lara. There is so much good stuff all for a great cause!!! Bid now before the auction closes at 9pm ET on Tuesday, December 10. Okay, now onto today’s post…

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Right now I’m having a honeymoon moment with my latest book, The Last Ferry Out, which will hit shelves on May 20. It’s in that happy stage where I’m pleased with it, my publishing team is on-board, and no one on Goodreads has called it “pathetic drivel” (…yet).

But that’s why I find it so necessary to remind you of this alarming fact: