I was recently asked, "What advice would you give aspiring authors?". And I realized the best advice I could ever give anyone walking into the wonderful world of writing is to be kind with yourself and never stop believing in your work. The biggest hurdle you'll ever face is your own criticism. Accept that you're not perfect and you WILL make mistakes. But learn from your mistakes and try to laugh them off. I once queried a literary agent that I was dying to sign me, she was my first choice. For those of you that don't know, querying is when authors submit their work to literary agencies and/or publishing agencies in hopes they'll be a good fit and publish with them. Anyway, I submitted the query. I was nervous, excited, and overall, so proud of myself. I had finally made it. And let me just be completely honest here, I believed I would query a few agencies and have to choose the one I wanted. Unfortunately, that's not the case. A dear friend of mine once told me, "Take a shot every time you read the words 'Unfortunately you're not a good fit for me at this time.'" If we both had done that, we would have been too drunk to ever write another novel. Back to the initial point of my story, when I checked on the query, I had submitted my novel as non-fiction. I wrote a paranormal romance novel, obviously it's fiction. Another obvious statement, she didn't sign me. I wanted to cry for days, but ultimately, I gave myself the kindness I deserved. Mistakes will happen, it's how you handle them that will determine if you're going to make it. Focus on what you want and do that. Your writing will not be for everyone, that's okay. There are people that hated twilight but look at Stephanie Meyer's success. Write for yourself and no one else, the rest will fall into place.

Just a small P.S. I am always willing to talk with potential writers and help in any way I can, the inbox of any of my social media accounts is always open!



All my love & Happy Reading!

xoxo,

E. Stoots