I started writing the book when I was in sixth grade, but that’s not how it began.

When I was in elementary school, especially the later years, I remember searching for a very specific story to read, but no matter how much I looked or how many books I read, I couldn’t find it. But I kept searching, and the longer it took, the more I wanted it, and the more specific the story I wanted became.

Un-related to that desire, during the fifth grade, my best friend and I were talking to our reading teacher and we both came up with an idea and announced to her that we would write a book together. How amazing would that be, right?

We never did it.

But the idea was in my head after that. I think it was festering before then, but it was finally spoken as a possibility. I didn’t think about it to much after it was determined that we would not, after all, write a book together, which was discovered by the end of the very same day.

Then I entered middle school.

I hadn’t been in sixth grade long before one particularly boring day in study hall, I decided to write. So, I got on one of the school issued computers and I did just that. At the time, that was all it was, a cure for my boredom.

It wasn’t until I kept writing, and eventually told my father about it that it became official. I had been telling him about my day and the story I was writing when he said, “you should write a book.” We continued to talk a bit about it and, because of what he said, I finally decided to write a book.

That decision brought on five years of working and writing to turn this thing – this idea – into something tangible.

Every day after I came home I would write. When I wasn’t writing, I was day-dreaming about it. The writing part took about two years, and once that was done, the editing came, which took another two and half years, and then design and publishing took up the last year.

I had many adventures because of this book. On the way to meet my editor my father got a flat tire and spent about an hour or two at a gas station trying to replace it in the rain. I also, in a way, joined the cross country team because of it. My awkward middle school self also had many meetings with professionals that were very generous with their knowledge and time, even though I clearly didn’t know what I was doing.

When I first wrote The Abnormals I wrote it in a big block of text. Halfway through I realized I should write in proper format and I ended up going all the way back and spending a month or two editing and putting what I had written in the correct format. Trust me, if any of you have not yet but will write a book, use punctuation, proper grammar, and proper formatting from the start. You won’t regret it. Sure, it made me review what I had and made me edit it, but doing it from the beginning will save you so much time!

Did I make mistakes? Yes. A ton of them. Did I learn from them? Yes. I hope so. I guess we’ll see when they next book is ready. I’m glad I did it the way I did though, because now hopefully the next book will be much smoother and I will know what to expect. I will definitely be doing it different the next time around. I loved the entire process of creating this book. I went through many highs and lows, but I had my parents and other experienced people to help me, and I couldn’t have done it without them. I really couldn’t.

All of this was so worth it. I thank God I have been able to do this, and for the wonderful people He has placed in my life.

Questions? Concerns? Write in the comments below and I will either answer them in the comments, or, if the answer is long enough, make another post about it.

P.S.

Sorry for the late post! This week has not been one for deadlines.

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