How a Tired Mum Accidentally Wrote a Book

Two weeks ago while my son was at daycare, I fought through a headache (probably self-inflicted), yelled at Canva, screamed at Reedsy, and howled at Amazon...

And then I waited.

Then I waited some more.

I changed some keywords.

Waited again.

I was told my book would be a disappointing experience for the customer.

I asked why.

Waited more.

But it finally happened!

My book:

Whispers in Your Mind

A collection of creepy tales that echo in your thoughts,

is now available for purchase.

After the first submission attempt, I slid over to the kitchen and baked some banana bread to freeze for my son’s snacks. I felt like SuperMum!

How Did It All Start?

One year ago, I was a sleep-deprived mother crawling out of her first year of motherhood. I still wasn’t quite sure where I was going or who I was.

Having never really been a writer before, I wrote my first Vocal story. It was a piece about our experience using a sleep consultant for our son’s sleep regression issues. I just wanted to try to help a few other tired parents out there. I never intended it to be creative writing, and at the time, I hadn’t even considered fiction or poetry.

It’s now been exactly one year to the day since I posted my first story on Vocal. I’m still a sleep-deprived mother, but I get a bit more sleep and a bit more time to myself now.

I spent most of last year saying I had no plans to write a book.

Then at some point, I thought, hmm… maybe.

I slowly started compiling fiction pieces I wrote for Vocal to add to my collection.

Then I wrote two new stories not published on Vocal, which you will find in my book:

Back and Forth

A Mother’s Pause.

And

Shift Work

Some jobs never end.

Lessons Along the Way

I’ve learnt so much along the way, mainly that spell checkers are extremely frustrating! Especially because I live in Australia and want to use British English. Spell checkers love to pretend they’ve agreed to switch to the correct English, then sneakily switch back to American English when you’re not looking.

I also discovered that Grammarly is session-based, so those corrections you dismissed in your document that’s over 100 pages long will all be back the next time you open the page. As someone who likes to tick tasks off a list, this was very irritating.

It was a little disheartening when I converted my Word document to a novel format in Reedsy. Once the font was changed and formatted, my document was a lot shorter than I thought. I’ve definitely felt a little inadequate and have had to stop myself from saying, “It’s only 82 pages long.” It’s still a collection of 15 stories that I poured my heart into.

While reading over some of my older stories, I discovered that I’ve become better at showing rather than telling. In many of my older stories, I’d say “I feel” rather than describing the feeling, and I’ve made some edits to many of the earlier stories to improve them.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learnt over this process is that my support network spreads wider than I think. I always share my stories on Facebook, and it doesn’t feel like I get much response. But it turns out I have a network of older friends. One friend I haven’t seen since Year Twelve at school, and another friend from Year Seven, have been reading my stories and have both asked for the link to buy a copy of my book. I feel incredibly lucky to have these people in my life.

The most challenging and heartbreaking part of the whole process was working out what price to charge for my book. To others, it might seem like a measly 82-page book that they could read in one sitting, really not worth more than a couple of dollars. To me, it’s hours of stress, anxiety and love. It’s a dream, and it’s worth so much more than I can ever actually charge for it.

I received some advice to give away a few free copies in the hopes that people will read and review it before I start selling it. I’ve seen people try this tactic, and it looks exhausting. Everyone is busy with their own lives, and my book will not always be their priority. It’s important to me, and I know I will get impatient waiting for people to read and post reviews, so I’ve just decided to send it out into the world with zero reviews and see what happens.

If you would like a copy, you can find it here:

Note: For cheaper paperback shipping, check the local Amazon site of your country.

Now What?

I don’t know what’s next for me yet.

I’m seriously considering taking a week off from Vocal. I’ve published at least one piece a week since I joined a year ago... but then again, I don’t know if I can stay away.

I think for now, I’ll just sit back, relax, and wait for someone to buy the rights to one of my stories so they can make it into a movie.