Elizabeth McCourt's Blog

It's been a thrill to have my book finally in many hands and I'm happy to say the reviews coming in have been positive. People like my character Abby! I'm fascinated and interested in flawed characters in what I read, write and watch so the biggest compliment is that people have seen that. One reviewer said, sometimes I really don't like her, but I'm rooting for her. That feels like success to me and I'm motivated to help this book and work on the next 2. I have one non-fiction brewing in addition to Abby's story. I have to hop on a few planes next week for work and pleasure and am looking forward to the quiet time to write. Sin in The Big EasyElizabeth McCourt

In a few days, I'll officially become a novelist with Sin in The Big Easy. It's been such a long road and it's been wonderful to not only see this project come to fruition but all the love and support of so many people from my present and past. My hometown former classmates are excited to have a novelist in the mix and my pre-readers have been positive so my anxiety level is low. I do think people will enjoy it!

I can't wait to see what happens and I'm locked into this amazing journey and look forward to see where it takes me.

Nothing makes it more real than the actual book in hand. I got 5 big boxes last week that I thought was something else until I saw Simon & Shuster on the side of the box! My publisher Post Hill Press is distributed by S&S which is one of the reasons publishing with them was so attractive. I think after all the hard work it was surreal to open the box and see MY book in MY hand. I dreamed of this day since I was a young child and recently found one of my 1st chapter books - A Cat Named Katy - which thankfully never made it to print. At 6 words a chapter it wouldn't have been much. Alas, now that I have them, it feels all the more real and in a few short weeks it will fall into the hands of many. I can't wait!

No more changes as my novel has officially gone to print! They said the kindle will be available in a few weeks. It's real now and there's no turning back. It took me a lifetime to get here, from my dreams of writing in chapters as a child, to trying relentlessly to get my small pieces publishes, to publishing a lot of content including a blog, and finally to that day when someone said "I like this, can I pitch it" and it found a home.

My hope is that this book will entertain those who read it. There's a piece of me in every character good and bad because I really wanted to make the characters feel real. I also was determined to write the kind of mystery that I would enjoy and hopefully there's enough suspense to keep the pages turning.

Mostly, I'm proud of myself for letting this work go into the world with the simple expectation of joy.

As my own work is coming to publication, this is perhaps a tribute to those writers I aspired to be like in some way. And of course, sometimes sabotaged myself by thinking, no, I could never write this way nor as well. That's the hard part of loving books and loving the work of writing - you're never quite done, but at some point you have to let it go out into the world rather just keep it in the many notebooks stuffed in secret places around the house and hidden in the various files on my computer.

Even though I've been writing for as long as I can remember, I'm finally coming out as a writer - a first time novelist even, and this list includes many of the writers who I'm grateful weren't afraid to put it on the page and send it out into the world!

1. Claire Messud - “Yes, writing is essential to me. It’s my way of living in the world.”

2. W. Somerset Maugham - “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

3. Elizabeth Gilbert - “Embrace the glorious mess that you are!”

4. Cheryl Strayed - “Write like a mother F*cker.”

5. Alexandra Fuller - “In ways I don't entirely have the words for, an experience, thought or a lesson isn't real for me until I've written down.”

6. Sebastian Junger - “Who wants a life of ease? And who wants a life in the office that you hate, and who wants to play golf?”

7. Melissa Bank - “I feel in some ways I’ve had a difficult life. And it makes me the writer I am, in what I value, what I respect and what I hold dear.”

8. Frank McCourt - “I learned the significance of my own insignificant life.”

9. Chris Pavone - “Although no one loves a typo, it's close to impossible to eradicate every single little mistake in a manuscript.”

10. Amanda Eyre Ward - “When you are small, if you reach out, and nobody takes your hand, you stop reaching out, and reach inside, instead.”

I just finished the final 'final' proof of Sin in The Big Easy and was thankful that this one last proof for good luck hopefully squeezed out every last drop of edit. It's amazing to me that even when a piece has been edited a gazillion times by different people a little error can emerge! I'm thankful of this process because my wish is that my book is the best that it can be without anything to distract the reader from enjoying the story. The next version I'll get will be a final copy, the real thing in my hands. I'm both thrilled and scared but I think that's how it's supposed to be, isn't it? The thrill of completion of a long time project and of course the fear of whether people will like it or not. At least I can trust that the editing has been done right and proof of the proof is in the bag!