I got a book deal!

[image description: a person in gauzy linen pants skating on a basketball court in white roller skates.]

I’ve been waiting all my life to say this. I got a book deal!

Midwest Shreds, a blended genre book about skaters and skateparks in the Midwest and Rust Belt will be published by Belt Publishing. I am THRILLED!

Reconnecting with my love of roller skating and then learning how to skate ramps has been the most fun I’ve ever had, so to be able to blend my passions of writing and skating is the best gift. My excitement level is through the stratosphere!

So you’re probably wondering how it happened. Well, last September I got laid off and after writing creatively and doing freelance writing and editing for years on the side, I decided I wasn’t going back to a traditional job. It felt like the only thing stopping me from really making a go of being a full-time writer was time (which has proved true!). Without a day job, I had more time than ever and have been writing more than ever as a result.

I was also taking afternoons off to go skating because the skateparks tended to get crowded in the evenings. Since being self-employed meant I was in charge of my schedule, I was able to go skating during the day when it was less crowded, which was especially important during the pandemic. But there came a time in winter when there was a ton of snow on the ground, the outdoor skateparks were icy, and the indoor skatepark was crowded at all hours. I missed skating so much my stomach hurt from wanting, but I didn’t want to risk getting Covid.

Mr. Off the Beaten Shelf kept telling me I should write about skating. He told me repeatedly, “You should write a skate book, especially in winter when you’re thinking about skating all the time but can’t.” At first, I ignored him. I even tried skating around the living room but got bored with the tiny patch of hardwood.

Finally, he said, “What if you try just writing one skate essay?” I agreed because an essay is a short-term thing. What’s the worst that could happen?

I started writing that skate essay and 10,000 words later, I realized I had a book in the making. I sketched an outline so I’d know what the rest of the book would look like and I saw that there was sooooo much more I could cover. And the research was FUN! Mr. Off the Beaten Shelf was able to see what I hadn’t been able to: this is what I should be writing!

I started putting together a book proposal, which was an interesting process. I’d never written one before––I’d never even seen one before until one of my friends generously sent me hers!––so I had no idea if I was doing it right. I googled “how to write a book proposal” and hoped the info that popped up was helpful. A week later, I had a 58-page book proposal and no idea whether it was any good.

Perhaps the process would’ve been less ambiguous if I had a literary agent, but I didn’t have one (and still don’t). Fellow writer friends have asked me why I haven’t tried to get an agent and here’s my honest answer: it didn’t occur to me. I’ve heard of so many writers whose agents found them because of something they published, so I figured I could either spend my time trying to get an agent, or I could spend my time writing and hope an agent would find me. And when I still had my day job, I didn’t have a lot of time to spare, so I opted to just keep writing.

So with my book proposal ready, I reached out to my first-choice publisher, who blessedly accepts un-agented queries. That’s one of the many things I love about indie presses––most of them are egalitarian! I’m thankful Belt is open to un-agented writers otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to work with them (or at least not until I found an agent).

And… an editor liked my book proposal, so we signed a contract! I’ll be turning in my manuscript later this fall and the book will be out sometime around fall 2022.

Everyone’s path to publishing is so different, so this isn’t prescriptive by any means. I just wanted to share my experience and encourage you to keep going, keep writing, and follow your intuition.

I’m speechless with gratitude and I can’t wait to share more with you soon!