Hey everyone! 📚 I thought it’d be fun to start opening up some conversations about publishing! Because let’s be honest, finishing a book is one thing, but figuring out how to get it out into the world? That’s a whole different journey. 🌟 There are two main paths to publishing: traditional and self-publishing. Each has its strengths, challenges, and very different processes. ✒️ Traditional Publishing 🖋 This is the route where you query literary agents, sign with a publisher, and your book is professionally edited, designed, and distributed for you. ✅ Pros: Working with a literary agent and a publishing house. They handle the editing, cover design, marketing, and distribution. You get the benefit of a professional team, and your book can end up in bookstores across the country. ⚠️ Cons: Getting in the door can take time (and a lot of rejection letters). Highly competitive, slower process, less creative control, and smaller royalties. 💻 Self-Publishing 💻 Here, you are the publisher. You handle (or outsource) editing, design, marketing, and publishing on platforms like Amazon KDP or IngramSpark. ✅ Pros: Total creative control, faster turnaround, higher royalties. You control your timeline, your creative choices, and your royalties. ⚠️ Cons: You’re responsible for everything — editing, cover design, marketing, and promotion. It’s all on you. Platforms like Amazon KDP or IngramSpark make it easier than ever, but it still takes work and strategy. Neither path is “better.” It depends on your goals, personality, and resources. Some writers love the freedom of self-publishing. Others prefer the structure and support of a publisher. 💬 Discussion: If you had to choose right now, which route would you take — and why?

Authentic dialogue is realistic, layered, and right for the character and the moment. 🤔 Let's talk about how to make dialogue layered. What do I mean when I say that dialogue must be layered? 🍰 This mainly goes back to the idea that conversations don't really take place in a word-to-word manner. ✅ It's not the words of the spoken sentence so much as it is the unspoken meaning beneath those words. ------ For instance, if you're late for work one day, and the boss says, "Nice of you to join us," she's not really meaning what she says. If a non-English speaker heard or read those words, he might think the boss is being polite. But you and I know the boss really meant, "You're late again, and it's disrespectful. Knock it off or suffer the consequences." ------ ✅ Meaning to meaning, not sentence to sentence. 🌟 Do you consciously plan subtext into your dialogue, or does it usually appear naturally in revision? . . . ( 📖 Crafting Dynamic Dialogue: The Complete Guide to Speaking, Conversing, Arguing and Thinking in Fiction )

In the past, I have voice dictated a story into an iPad while on the treadmill, just to get that first rough draft done, then edited all the mistakes and errors out after.