You know that brilliant feeling when you tell a friend about your shiny new idea? Or that one about thirty minutes after you read a brutal edit letter, when you realize how much better your book will be once you’ve implemented the changes?
That was pretty much how I felt the entire time I was a part of the writing process for POLARIS AWAKENING.
Writing a novel is incredible. It’s magic. It’s also insanely hard. It’s invigorating and challenging and I never feel as good about myself as I do when I type “The End.” Writing a novel with six other people is the same, and yet totally different. I could talk your ear off for hours about how much I learned and how much I LOVE each of the stories and the authors that I worked with, but I think there’s some sort of word count limit…so I’ll stick to just three of the reasons why writing an anthology is so freaking amazing. 🙂
- PLOTTING. GUYS, THE PLOTTING. If you have ever watched any WordNerds live chat ever, you have probably heard about how much I love plotting. I live for that adrenaline rush that you get when lightning strikes and you see a little bit more of where your story is going. Our author meetings for POLARIS were pretty much a hurricane. Lightning everywhere! Having that many minds working together was incredible for coming up with unique plots and fun twists to weave everything together.
- So many eyes! When I finish revisions for a novel, it’s always nerve wracking figuring out who I will ask to read my manuscript. I stress about whether or not they have a manuscript I could read so that I have something to offer in return, or whether they actually want to help or are being polite. But in revising the stories for POLARIS, there were so many people looking at each story! My own went through six sets of eyes before it became what you can read now.
- Super triumphant release day! I haven’t experienced a release day for one of my novels yet. But it was AMAZING sharing a release date with six others who also worked their tails off to put out the best sci-fi anthology we possibly could. And because there were so many of us in completely different areas of the world, it was basically a nonstop party no matter what the time of day!
Because of all these things (and about a billion others), I have had so much motivation in my own personal work, as well! It’s impossible to surround yourself with creative people and not be inspired.
I guess what I’m saying is, writers are the best. I can’t get enough of them.
Meghan Jashinsky grew up in the oldest city in the United States, and all of its local ghost stories fueled her passion for writing dark, twisty books. She received a B.A. in Linguistics, makes educational children’s videos, and vlogs with the YA WordNerds. Meghan currently lives near Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and their adorable corgi-kelpie mutt. Her debut short story ‘Taurus’ was published May 2015 in the Patchwork Press anthology Polaris Awakening.
You can follow her bookish escapades by checking out her blog or Twitter.
