The Path To Traditional Publishing
Steps I'm Taking This Year To Get My Books Published
It’s every writer’s dream, but I’m afraid to say it out loud.
I want to be traditionally published.
I want my writing to be read by many. I want to move readers, I want my words to stay with them, for a long time, and deeply. I want to be published in paper. I want a literary agent. I want a publishing house that believe in my stories, and how they may move people into more connection, more warmth, and more kindness overall.
But… I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s wind back a bit.
You see, I have not actually finished my book just yet.
Last summer I had the idea for a book that told the auto-fictionalised story of our first year here at our small homestead. It was to be an antidote to the story of the self-sufficient man who moves into the woods alone (think of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden), while still evolving around many of the same topics: Nature, work, and living off the land.
But instead of telling the story of doing everything alone, my story would centre family and togetherness. Instead of self-sufficiency it would centre community. Instead of “the man”, my story would centre me, a woman, a mother, the home, creativity, caring for children, and femininity.
In short, a feminist’s take of homesteading.
But it never starts out that way, does it?
In the beginning it was only a faint idea of a book in 12 chapters, following the wheel of the year, starting with May 2023 when we saw our little white cottage for the first time.
Last autumn I started publishing my chapters one by one for the members of my publication to read. But somewhere along the way I lost sight of what I wanted with my book.
I was entering third trimester of my pregnancy, and I was foggy, unable to see the project and the book that I had originally intended. So I took a break from it.
After the birth of our son this winter, the story started rummaging in me again. I had new ideas, and a new perspective. Time away enabled me to see the story from afar, and suddenly I could see the big picture once again.
Becoming a mother for the second time has only made me so much more eager to keep pursuing my creative ideas, despite sleep-deprivation and time-constraints. Or maybe because of those things.
I thrive on problem solving. Having too much time in the day can make me drowsy, and unmotivated. But leaning into my creative motherhood, squeezing the most out of every day, that’s where I get the most done.
So I’m picking up my book writing once again, and this time I have a clear goal in mind: I want my book published.
Do you want to embark on this journey with me? Consider becoming a member of the Home by the Beech Trees Club to receive a new chapter from my book series every month, starting this May.
Read more about membership here.
Psst.. The Prologue and Chapter 1 of the first book in the series are available for a free preview right here:
