I Write Things: Book Update

It’s hard to believe that we are only in April. This year has had 1,485 days already, most of them Mondays. If I were to give 2025 a motto, it would be “I Didn’t See That Coming” because, truly, this year is a Chaos Edition bingo game. I gave up trying to make sense of its rules, or predict what would happen next, sometime in early March and I am here to tell you that, while it has not made the ride any smoother, it hasn’t made it worse either. It’s a tough pill for a Type A person to swallow — we like to be proactive and think we have control over our lives — but I think in the long run, it will be another leap forward towards the Zen-ification of Adina.

Anyway, the thing about chaos is that it’s not necessarily all bad. At least a few of the things I didn’t see coming this year have been good … first and foremost, my book. After falling into a deep creative depression halfway through 2024, my future as a writer wasn’t looking particularly rosy. I felt completely adrift. It was not merely a crisis of creativity; it felt like a crisis of identity, because writing is a tremendously important part of who I am. Last fall, I came across a Georgia O’Keefe quote that resonated deeply: I have done nothing all summer but wait for myself to be myself again. I repeated it to myself a lot, as the fall stretched into winter, and I kept waiting and waiting. And then, suddenly and without warning, there I was — myself again. I started writing … and I didn’t stop. Pieces I didn’t know existed fell into place. As a creator, the most joyous experience is the feeling of synergy you get when you know you’ve found the perfect form of expression for something inside yourself that needs to find its way out into the world. It’s like being perfectly in tune — both with your own inner world, and the outside one. Getting yourself tuned to that frequency can feel incredibly difficult and frustrating; witness my months of trying and failing. Yet, once it happens, it feels as natural as breathing. But that doesn’t mean that creative synergy is a steady state. Sometimes, you have to accept letting it go … and simply hold on to the knowledge that it is not gone forever.

The good news is that I’m still very much in The Flow at the moment and — with all these past lessons in mind — committed to enjoying it to the fullest. I know I’ll miss it terribly when it goes away, so I’m making the most of it while I can. That involves rebalancing my priorities to make space in my life for writing. 2025 wasn’t going to be The Year I Write and Try to Publish a Book, but it is now. I have no idea what’s gonna happen next, but I’m taking each step forward with my usual intent: to live in discovery. Curious mind + humble heart.

Anyhooooo. Here’s what’s been happening lately. I finished my book and the major edits on it — all 135,000 words of it. Its current title is A Party to Murder. It’s a historical romance murder mystery in the tradition of Golden Era writers (Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, and Dorothy L. Sayers), set in the 1920s, and combining a classic English country house whodunnit with the lighthearted romantic elements of Georgette Heyer mystery novels. There are family secrets, quarrels, love triangles, and a large fortune at stake – for which at least one person is prepared to kill. And there is a butler (who didn’t do it). I posted a very, very general synopsis on IG, and one of my followers sent me this mock cover they designed based on the concept:

Isn’t it stunning! Credit to @shysnarrative on IG (and a HUGE thank you again).

I’ve sent my manuscript to a few beta readers, and the feedback I’ve received so far has been very encouraging. I have also started to pull together some resources to tackle what I think will be the next step in this journey, which is creating a query letter. For anyone who doesn’t know, a query letter is basically a pitch deck to sell your book (and yourself) to a literary agent who, in turn, can hopefully pitch it to a publishing house. While the idea of traditional publishing intimidates the heck out of me, I’ve decided that I’m going to put my big girl pants on and give it a shot. As a pragmatist, it’s hard for me to approach this with any significant degree of optimism — traditional publishing is a BRUTAL industry to break into and navigate, especially for new writers — but I am leveraging my current sense of synergy and leaning into the feeling of “this is the right thing, at the right time”. Worst case scenario, I’ll turn to other options to get my book out into the world, if this gambit fails to pan out.

In the meantime, I’m keeping myself pleasantly distracted (and procrastinating from the scary query letter business) by diving head-first into my second book. And it’s been a whole trip! If writing my first book felt a bit like a fever dream, writing this one feels like a fever dream on steroids. I must have learned a lot (without realizing it) while writing the previous story, because this one is coming together much, much faster. It’s practically pouring out … though, of course, I’ll find out later (during edits) if what’s coming out is actually any good, LOL! But, as before, I am LOVING the process and immersing myself in the world I’m creating. One of my fave comments from a beta reader mentioned how they loved the fact that I created characters that are very much stereotypes of the genre, but made them human and relatable. To me, that speaks to the fact that, in writing the story, I came to really care about each of my characters; I’m glad that comes out in the writing. I mention that because this is one of the reasons I enjoy the writing process so much — I am spending time with “people” who feel real and in whom I’m invested (I don’t love them all, but I have empathy for each one). The same is true for my second book, and I’m so excited to tell the story of a brand new cast of characters.

Well, almost brand new.

Because here’s another exciting thing: I’ve decided this is going to be a series. Each book is a standalone mystery, but they will be set in the same ‘universe’ and will feature some overlapping characters. In addition to book #2, I’ve got book #3 almost entirely plotted out; book #4 has a solid outline, and books #5 and 6 are at the conceptual stage. [Beyond that, TBD.] This has allowed me to lay some groundwork, starting with the first story, for future ones. For example, a throwaway reference in book #1 will serve as a starting point for book #5. [No spoilers!] I am having a lot of fun deciding which tropes — mystery and romance ones — I am going to explore (and, hopefully, explode a little bit) in each book. I have finally found a way to put 35+ years of reading experience to good use.

Well, that’s a sufficiently prolix update for now. If you’re a literary agent or know one (or know of one) or have any tips for begging asking them to notice you — or have any general words of wisdom or encouragement you want to share — please hit me up in the comments. And, until next time, stay creative!!