Late Summer Musings
The most difficult thing about getting your book ready to foist upon the world is the number of times you must read and re-read it, then read it again. This is both part of the publisher-mandated editing and copywriting processes, and part of the secret internal process that assures by the time the book is in print, you detest it with every molecule of your being because you now realize its stories are dreadful, amateur scribblings that no publisher should allow anyone to see.
And then you get your first pre-release review. This review is not one of the cover blurbs you solicited from your mentors, blurbs you knew would be kind and inspiring. A stranger wrote this review, and it’s going to be published in print and online on September 2 in Booklist, a publication with an estimated 77,000 readers. Its readers are librarians and educators who buy books and recommend books. And it is nuts. It calls your dreadful, amateurish book “a master class in Midwestern humanity.” It says you write “with skill and a rare empathy” and calls the characters “wonderfully written.” And you start to think, maybe this is not going to be embarrassing after all.
I did not set out to write a book. I began writing in 2016 because I’d always wanted to see if I could. A friend had organized a writing workshop and invited me to join it. In it I felt a joy I hadn’t anticipated, and a determination to work at writing and improve.
I kept attending retreats and workshops. At one of them I met a remarkable writing teacher, Katey Schultz, and joined her virtual classroom for two years. I entered a world of writers with whom I shared my work, bonded emotionally, and collaborated. I found my place in fiction and the occasional essay. My first story–the one begun in that first workshop—was published in 2017. I kept on submitting to literary journals, and though I received a hefty number of rejections, I published some pieces, too.
At a writing retreat in Tennessee in 2022, I printed out my finished stories and realized I had 40,000 words of prose and a start on a book, if I wanted to go there. I did. It took another year to get a manuscript into shape, now about 61,000 words. An editor I retained gave me superb critical feedback and rewriting ideas. I also hired a consultant who helped me write publisher queries and identify indie and academic presses who might like the book, now titled Secrets and Other Hobbies. I could not have done this without their guidance.
I submitted my manuscript to 35 contests and open calls over 10 months. It was a finalist or semifinalist in four national contests. Although I was never the bride, being a bridesmaid kept me going. The 34 th submission was the charm: Cornerstone Press offered a contract. It’s a great academic press that has produced prizewinning short story collections from its “Legacy” series. I’m happy and proud to be in the Cornerstone family of authors. It was worth the wait.
The work doesn’t stop. The cover must be selected, those follow-up readings and rewrites happen in dizzying sequence, and even with an excellent publicist, the book tour and publicity plans are all-consuming. Author events are being scheduled in Saugatuck, Chicago, Minneapolis, Stevens Point (home of Cornerstone), Madison, Louisville, and we’re working on northern Michigan and Ann Arbor. The characters in Secrets and Other Hobbies are from Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, so this seems like a good round-up of cities. Watch my website, maryhannahterzino.com, for dates and times!