Do you have a story to tell?
Have you dreamed of writing and publishing your own book?
If so, join Tricia DellAnno, author of the children’s books, No Dog in my Yard and A Dog in my Yard. Tricia, an award-winning, best-selling author, is eager to share her personal journey, invaluable lessons learned, and expert tips to guide you toward your dream of publishing a book.
In this engaging and interactive workshop, you’ll explore your goals to becoming a published author and learn the steps involved in self-publishing or pursuing traditional publishing routes. Whether you aspire to take charge of the entire process or explore the more conventional path, this workshop will equip you with the essential knowledge and insights to navigate the world of publishing.
Authoring is a word I started using in 2021 when I began my author journey. My family quickly learned that when staring at the top of my head and asking, “What are you doing?” my response would be, “I’m authoring.” It was just easier to use those two words than try to explain what was going on in my head and on my computer.
To be honest, I thought I made the word up. But after googling, I found many articles and varying opinions on this intriguing word. It’s a noun, a verb, an adjective, it’s not a word, it is a word, but hasn’t been used since the 19th century, and so on.
Well, in my house, authoring is a word, and it looks like this:
And is defined as:
Au•thor•ing (v): Writing, doubting your words, revising, taking a leap of faith, querying, getting rejected, revising again, getting a publishing contract, finding a lawyer, questioning the deal, taking risks, finding an amazing illustrator, communicating your vision so your words are brought to life, collaborating, writing a book description and author bio, getting a digital marketing certification (because you need to learn to do more on social than scroll), creating social business pages, posts and a content calendar, researching, learning how to design a website, learning to take really deep breaths because you know nothing about designing a website, linking this page to this site, optimize, optimize, optimize, combing through Facebook Groups related to “authoring”, putting together a launch team before introducing your book to the world, praying the printer doesn’t accidentally put a page from some car calendar in the middle of your book, remembering to take deep breaths, dreading asking for help, afraid of failing.
As authors, we do all of this (and much more) even though we know the market is saturated with children’s books and the competition is fierce! And many of us write rhyming books when so much of what we read tells us not to because it’s too hard. Many agents are not interested, rhyming books don’t easily translate into other languages, if at all, and it’s difficult to tell a story using rhyme without it feeling forced or clunky. It is poetry and needs to be done well. And as with any children’s book, we need to appeal to adults as well as children.
So, anyone on this authoring journey quickly realizes that it is not for the faint of heart. But the hard work and the things we learn from hours upon hours of research, from trial and error, and each other is what gets us to the finish line. The author community is unique. I have found Facebook groups for authors/illustrators/marketers and very quickly learned that this authoring world is incredible. The willingness to share ideas, provide reviews, follow each other, give honest feedback, pick each other up as we learn from our mistakes, and cheer each other on makes my definition of authoring feel less daunting and much more rewarding, purposeful, and fun. It makes adding our stories to the growing list of children’s books even more special and worthwhile.
So, the word “authoring” has come and gone, but it is now a staple in my vocabulary, which means I give myself the liberty to change its definition along the way.
For anyone who reads this and can relate to my definition above, then I say, “Keep going!”
If you are newly published or seasoned, then maybe your definition looks something like this:
Au•thor•ing (v): Sharing your beautifully crafted and illustrated story with the world, bringing joy or comfort to your readers, being grateful for the people you meet along the way, embracing the idea of life-long learnings, and helping others.
I’m getting there…
