Maybe it’s just me, but I suspect most authors cringe a bit when it comes to self-promotion. It’s part of the reason traditional publishing is still thriving, given that publishers should do most of the promotion for their clients. Whether they actually do or not is another thing.
That being said, a part of this reluctance also extends to talking about ourselves. The last thing I want to do is wax on about my (boring) life. I’d much rather give a monologue about my books, the plots, characters, themes, etc. Seriously, I could go on for hours about it. But, most readers want to have a connection to the author on a more personal level than the craft. I get it. I’m the same way when I’m in reader mode.
In an effort to share a little more about myself, I thought it was time to discuss my history as it relates to writing, especially given that my route into the literary scene is rather atypical (a geologist by training who works in academia in my day job).
The Early Days
I don’t know exactly when I went from reading to writing creatively, but I remember penning short stories in high school (circa 2004). These started as class assignments but eventually evolved into me working on outlines for longer pieces when I was bored out of my mind in the thick of the North Carolina summer. I never did much with that material, but it was a fun way to pass the time.
Then, I had my first idea for a coherent story while sitting in my high school biology class. We were learning about genetics, and there was one little paragraph in my textbook about telomers that set it all off. It essentially hinted that damage to these end pieces of junk code during the DNA replication process was the key cause of aging. Immortality came to my mind, and so the premise of my novella The Neohumanoids was born.
My First Novella
I wrote The Neohumanoids over about a year from sometime late in my senior year of high school into my freshman year of college (circa 2006). My writing style back then was quite different. I did what most aspiring writers do and mimicked what I read. Back then, it was predominantly classic, mostly Victorian, literature, including the earliest science fiction novels (e.g., works by H.G. Wells and Jules Verne). Melodrama covered the pages. The diction was overly verbose. In short, I laugh at it when I read it now. That being said, it was my first complete work, and I was proud of it. I just didn’t know what to do with it. No one will publish a novella from an unknown author, so I shelved it and moved on to the next project.
My Second Work
I had an idea for another novel while writing The Neohumanoids or shortly thereafter. I studied abroad in New Zealand for the first semester of my sophomore year of college and had a lot of free time since I wasn’t able to work a part-time job while there. I started on Scions of the Leaf, continuing with themes of genetic engineering but with a focus on botany.
I got several chapters in, but my progress faded for some reason. I suspect it had to do with focusing more on my studies. I was a geology major and had to take a fair number of labs and demanding courses. Plus, I also worked part-time. This was the start of the hiatus.
A Hiatus
Most writers take breaks from their writing. It’s essential to build up new ideas, let current ones marinate into something delicious, and just recharge more generally. There’s a balance to this, and for an autist like me, if I stop doing something for too long, I really struggle to pick it back up. Autistic inertia in action. Well, I made this mistake, since I didn’t really understand how my mind worked back then (or that I was autistic).
A short break turned into years of not writing. How many? Well, that depends on how you frame it. I technically, picked The Neohumanoids back up in 2014 while working on my doctorate. I heard from a friend about Amazon’s self-publishing platform and decided to at least get The Neohumanoids out in the world, even if no one read it. A few people did but not very many. (Note, I’ve sinced removed it from Amazon given it’s so different from my current writing). I also dabbled with resuming my work on Scions of the Leaf, but my studies ramped up again. I had to focus on research, hunting for jobs, and life in general. The hiatus resumed.
Rekindling the Passion
Fast forward to 2018. I turned thirty and was reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I loved the book and started to read up more on the author, since I didn’t know much about her at the time. She had a tragic life, but the part that really affected me was that she committed suicide after a lifetime of battling severe depression. She was only thirty years old when she died.
I was stunned. For her to be so young and yet to have been so prolific. I thought, “I’m thirty, and what have I done?” Okay, yes, I had a few degrees and was working a not-awful job, but in terms of my creative writing, I hadn’t done a thing in so long.
This realization was the kick I needed. I was resolved to pick my writing back up and really try to devote myself to it. I spent the next year plus working on Scions of the Leaf. I had to start the novel from scratch since my writing style had changed so drastically. In all those years, I had moved into reading more modern literary fiction as well as some science fiction by the greats (e.g., William Gibson, Ursula Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Author C. Clarke, Alfred Bester, Philip K. Dick). In the latter half of 2019, I had a complete novel ready for querying to literary agents.
Growing Pains
How unprepared I was. I didn’t really know about beta readers, so only one of my friends had read the draft. The fact that he wouldn’t give me any feedback didn’t bode well, but if you don’t know what needs improvement, you can’t do much of anything. I pressed on, found some agents to query, and started to send my awful query letter.
And yet, my heart just wasn’t in it. Scions of the Leaf was a mess. It was still the story the Sheri of 2007 had crafted even if I had tried to change the writing to match my current style. I wasn’t happy with it, so why would any literary agents be? After a few months of only twelve queries, I put Scions of the Leaf aside and started fresh.
A new project for my new voice. And so delta t was born. From 2020 until 2021, I worked on this hard sci-fi novel set on a space station between the Earth and the moon. I read up on how to approach the post-first-draft phase. I enlisted some beta readers, edited it based on their feedback, spent a long time crafting my query letter, and then set about querying.
Renaissance
Crickets. I persevered. 105 queries for delta t and no requests for additional material. I was crushed, but then again, I always knew hard sci-fi was a hard sell. I figured I needed something more fast-paced and flashy for my debut novel. I also suspected there were things I needed to learn to improve my writing. I enrolled in a creative writing course and, while taking that class, got the idea for my novel Nytho.
Since then, I’ve been writing non-stop with only hiatuses of days rather than weeks or months. I’ve had so many new ideas come to me. I have a total of 14 novels planned (including Nytho and delta t). I even managed to bring Scions of the Leaf back from the dead with a major overhaul of everything. It’s now the novel Neuen, and it will be the next one I release after Nytho. I also wrote a biopunk/climate fiction novel Rewilders which I’m actively querying. For now, I’m doing a mix of self-publishing and trying for traditional publishing on select titles. I’m nearing the final chapters of my work-in-progress Blessed is the Rot, a science fantasy novel with major Bloodborne/cosmic horror/gothic horror vibes.
All that to say, it’s been a long and winding road to get to this point. I sometimes wonder how things would have turned out if I had focused on my writing more and avoided that insanely long hiatus. Then again, I don’t think I would be the writer I am today if I had. I also don’t think I would have to say the same things I do with my writing. Sometimes it’s good to sit back and just exist. But for now, while I’m on the autistic inertia-train, I’ll take advantage of the momentum as long as I can.
What do you think about my writing journey? If you’re also a writer, how does it compare to yours? Let me know in a comment.
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