Writing Through the Ups and Downs

We write alone, but it takes a team to build a writing career.

Yesterday, I was interviewed by a grad student in Brooklyn who is doing a dissertation on how writing affects one’s mood, and vice versa. As I was answering her questions, it became clear to me that, while the business of writing is filled with highs and lows, periods of joy and hope punctuated by periods of anxiousness and self-doubt, the writing itself keeps me on an even keel. To be writing is simply my normal state of being, an act that brings me comfort and contentment and a sense of purpose in the world.

But beyond the writing itself is the support system. During the past thirteen years, through the gravy days and the lean ones, the years when I’m publishing and the years when I’m not, there have been two constants. The first is my husband, who reads all of my work, gives me ideas, tells me when a scene falls flat, and makes playlists for every one of my novels. The second is my agent, who believes in my books and goes to bat for me even during those times when I begin to doubt myself. In the big, chaotic world of publishing, it’s a gift to be with an agency where I don’t get lost in the shuffle.

I’ve also been fortunate to work with two talented, tireless editors at Bantam. I’ve often heard that “editors don’t edit anymore,” but that hasn’t been my experience at all!

This time last week, I’d just heard news from my agent that she’d sold the rights to my forthcoming novel (Bantam, Penguin Random House 2017) to a publisher in Israel. Having never been published in Hebrew before, I was elated. By the end of the week, she had received several offers from various countries. When she arrived in London early this week for the London Book Fair, she had already laid the groundwork to get this novel off to a strong start.

While most books are written in private, just a writer alone with the page, you need a team to build a solid writing career. In addition to a hardworking agent who always has your back, you need a talented editor who will guide you toward the best version of the book you want to write and be your ally in-house. You need a publisher who will invest the time, resources, and good faith that’s necessary to get your book in front of readers, and a publicist who will work to get you in front of audiences. There are artists, copy editors, proofreaders, editorial assistants. When it comes to foreign rights, there are subagents who pitch your book abroad, translators who get to know your book intimately, sentence by sentence, and the foreign publishers who each bring their own unique personality to the publication of your book. There is the actor who reads your book for audio. There are the reviewers who tell the world that your book exists, and the booksellers who display your book on the shelves, put it in the hands of readers, and host your in their stores. Finally, of course, there are the readers who buy your book, talk about it, and share it with their friends and book clubs.

The writing life is full of ups and downs. Some books are hits, and some are not. There are months when it seems that nothing is happening, and weeks when it seems that everything is happening. But no matter how your work is being received on any given day, there are school lunches to make. There are words to get on the page. There is family, there are friends, and there is the writing itself — those beautiful hours in the chair, when you’re lost inside the story. These things remain, no matter how the world is receiving your work at any given moment.

I have no idea what’s going to happen over the next few months. By the time the novel comes out, my son will have moved on from elementary school to middle school. I’ll be a year older, and so will my husband. My little nephew, who has only recently learned to talk, will be heading off to preschool. Life moves quickly, things change so rapidly. I wish the best for this book, as I wish the best for all of my books. After the last few days, I have the feeling that this novel may reach more readers than I’ve ever reached before. But how can I be sure? I can’t. I can only be grateful, enjoy the moment, enjoy my family, and keep writing.

Michelle Richmond has published four previous novels with Penguin Random House, including the New York Times bestseller The Year of Fog. She lives in Northern California. Visit her website.