Sarah Steding's Blog

So, let's admit it: writing a book has an element of self-consciousness. You're like, "Hey world, my very own story is so important that I want you all to read it... and maybe even get paid for it." What makes it possible, at least for me, are my friends, the ones that love me unconditionally and will read your book and they'll tell you that they love it. And I know, without a doubt, they will genuinely love it, because it came from me.

This post is a thank you to those friends. All the people who say, "I love it," even before it's done. Even before it's fully formed, coherent, agented, signed, copyedited, bound.

Those are the people that make it possible for writers to write and to finally step out there naked and imperfect into the world and say, "OK. Take it or leave it. This is what I made."

Psst—This post is for Nicole. She's an amazing friend, and I'm so grateful to have her.

So, let's admit it: writing a book has it's douchy side. You're like, "Hey world, my story and my ideas are so important that I want you all to read it." And your friends, the ones that love you most, will read your book and they'll tell you that they love it.

Well, this post is a thank you to all those friends. All the people who say, "I love it," even before it's done. Even before it's fully formed, or coherent, or copyedited, or bound.

Those are the people that make it possible for writers to write and to finally step out there naked and imperfect into the world and say, "OK. Take it or leave it. This is what I made."

Psst—This post is for Nicole. She's an amazing friend, and I'm so grateful to have her.

I'm so excited for my first meeting with my Simon & Schuster publicist. What should I wear? Should I come prepared with a laundry list of ideas, or just let the conversation flow naturally? Is she reading this RIGHT NOW, critiquing all the messages I'm putting out into the world? Hopefully she's too busy for that.

Today at a meeting I leaned over to show a few people on my team something on my iPad. I put the iPad in the center of the table and leaned over to swipe, zoom, click, and about two-thirds of the way through this miniature presentation I looked down and realized that my shirt was open. My bra was literally touching the table. My jaw dropped and I sprang back to right myself... then I stumbled through the rest of the presentation and basically butchered it. Well, you win some, you lose some. If I get a raise, you know why.