As you probably have heard and know, I have a book coming in September! I want to take you with me on my book publishing journey, so I thought I would do short updates as we race and/or slowly crawl to September (it can feel like both depending on the day).
Writing the book
As a brief history, I started writing the book last year, probably during the fall (although I can’t really remember when I first began). It was after I started this blog. Initially, I started the book as a general help guide for people dealing with mental illness and while being LDS. I wrote a more bland, general book with a lot of general authority quotations and had another LDS author (Mette Harrison) give it an edit.
She gave me a ton of great feedback, most notably that I was biting off more than I could chew and needed to dial in my focus and use more personal stories and experiences.
I rewrote the book, focusing on obsessive compulsive disorder, and using my story as a backdrop for helping other Mormons deal with having OCD. I submitted my book to Cedar Fort and Deseret Book in January. In February, I heard back from Cedar Fort and eventually they offered me a book deal! I took it, and the wild ride of getting my book published began.
After signing the contract
I had to get head shots, write author bios and a book synopsis, and work with the designer to get a cover sorted. Let me just say that doing a cover for a book on OCD was a lot harder for everyone than we probably thought it would be. Some ideas read too much like a cover for a fiction book, while other ideas from the publisher didn’t fit the overall theme and message of the book. My main goal was to avoid any stereotypical images that people associate with OCD (and I was very outspoken when such ideas were presented as cover possibilities). In the end, we chose the image above. Hopefully you like it!
I did another thorough edit and rearranging/combining of chapters in order to make the story easier to maneuver for the reader. It is part memoir/part self help, but most importantly it is honest and inspirational. I didn’t want to gloss over the reality of having OCD (and how it never really goes away completely) but also wanted to highlight that it is possible to get your life back. I’m so excited for you to read it!
….Which brings me to the next and ongoing hurdle of marketing. I’m still at the beginning of this one, so I’ll have to update you all later on how it’s going!