What I've Learnt Launching a Book by Author Jessica Dotta

When I first began writing, I found an article online that I've never forgotten. 

In it, the writer said something like: So you want to be a writer? Take two aspirin, lie down and hope the urge goes away! The gist was that it would be much, much easier to quit than to attempt to break through the publishing wall. At the time, I remember laughing. Now I'm not so sure he was joking. He really might have meant to take the aspirin. At the time, I remember laughing. Now I'm not so sure he was joking. He really might have meant to take the aspirin. 

Breaking through the publishing wall does seem like an impossible task, and if you're among those seeking publication, I want to offer encouragement. Believe it or not, right now you're in the honeymoon phase—and I don't want you to miss it! 

I recall my impatience now with a chuckle. I was so ready to be sold and published! Thank goodness I wasn't then! And not because my book wasn't ready. 

I had no thoughts of what still needed to be accomplished in my life. Writers know our job is to speak truth and to be willing to expose all. Yet there were still areas of my life chaining me from speaking the truth, though I didn't know it, then. Furthermore, I had no thoughts of the work that went into such a career choice. I wasn't thinking of social media, html coding, networking, creating the necessary photos, website design, mail blasts and driving for hours in a car for a half-hour event. 

At that point, I was in love with words and story. I spent hours delighting in finding the exact word choices to express an emotion or in figuring out the perfect action beat. I relished working with my fellow writers in critique groups, learning new concepts with them. 

I always thought the honeymoon started the moment a book contract is offered! But that's a skewed view. If we're comparing publishing to marriage, know that you're married as soon as you've made the commitment. 

If you're writing, you're a writer. 

How many couples on their honeymoon think about the folks back home who have been married several years with kids and jobs—and feel discontented that they're relaxing on the beach and having fun, while the others are so much further along? 

Not too many, I imagine. 

Take time and savor where you are. Make friends, critique work, grow in the craft! The next step will unfold in due season. 

Born in the wrong century–except for the fact that she really likes epidurals and washing machines–Jessica Dotta writes British Historicals with the humor like an Austen, yet the drama of a Bronte.

She resides lives in the greater Nashville area—where she imagines her small Southern town into the foggy streets of 19th century London. She oversees her daughter to school, which they pretend is an English boarding school, and then she goes home to write and work on PR. Jessica has tried to cast her dachshund as their butler–but the dog insists it’s a Time Lord and their home a Tardis. Miss Marple, her cat, says its no mystery to her as to why the dog won’t cooperate. When asked about it, Jessica sighs and says that you can’t win them all, and at least her dog has picked something British to emulate.

BOOK BLURB:

The year is 1838, and seventeen-year-old Julia Elliston’s position has never been more fragile. Orphaned and unmarried in a time when women are legal property of their fathers, husbands, and guardians, she finds herself at the mercy of an anonymous guardian who plans to establish her as a servant in far-off Scotland.

With two months to devise a better plan, Julia’s first choice to marry her childhood sweetheart is denied. But when a titled dowager offers to introduce Julia into society, a realm of possibilities opens. However, treachery and deception are as much a part of Victorian society as titles and decorum, and Julia quickly discovers her present is deeply entangled with her mother’s mysterious past. Before she knows what’s happening, Julia finds herself a pawn in a deadly game between two of the country’s most powerful men. With no laws to protect her, she must unravel the secrets on her own. But sometimes truth is elusive and knowledge is deadly.