Writing is a Team Sport

 

Howdy! Erica Vetsch here! I hope you’re having a splendiferous day!

This last weekend, I turned in the content edits for my 2022 release, Millstone of Doubt, book two in the Thorndike & Swann Regency Mysteries.

I spent hours in my library/office, reading, revising, tweaking, fixing. The door was closed, a little instrumental piano music going in the background, tea mug nearby. I was alone with my work.

 

This is the point where you hear authors say writing is very solitary. You. The Words. Nobody else. And this is true. There are great swaths of my day where I am by myself, at my computer, pulling words from my head and arranging them on the screen.

And yet, while authors write their books in isolation, writing is really a team sport. And the broader writing life even more so.

Examples just from this past week:

1. I edited Millstone of Doubt based upon the editorial letter I got from my editor at the publishing house. We are a team, trying to produce the best product possible. We shared ideas, collaborated on sticky bits, and hopefully succeeded in making the manuscript better. The book will now go to the line editor, who will polish, align, and generally improve the story in most every way possible because she’s awesome like that. Yay for an editorial team!

2. I spoke with my publicist on the phone, and she did some cooperative marketing for a project I was involved with. Very soon, she’ll be sending me Q&As for my upcoming release, creating graphics, and checking up on all the people who have signed up to read and review the story in the coming days. She works with the marketing and publicity teams at my publisher to get the word out about my books. Yay for a publicity team!

 

3. Last week, I took part in the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt with 25 other authors. We each promoted the hunt through our social media, newsletters, and pretty much everywhere we could, and as a result, word about my upcoming release reached WAY more people than I could have on my own. Yay for a collaborative effort by a team of author friends.

4. Last Thursday, I did a zoom meeting with a delightful group of west coast librarians where we talked about the road to publication, books, our favorite reads, and more. But on Tuesday, I couldn’t think of a single topic that would sound interesting. I was up to my eyeballs in edits, had several other projects going, and my mind was blank…so…I threw myself on the mercy of the Seekers. Dashing off a quick email plea for help, I was thrilled that so many ideas and answers poured into my inbox. I knew they would, because the SeekerLadies are awesome like that. In the end, I think I hit on almost every proposed topic in my presentation, and the librarian ladies seemed to enjoy it and had lots of fun questions afterwards. Yay for a writing buddy team!

5. This past week, I also got together with writing friends, Julie Klassen and Michelle Griep, to film a fun video we hope to air in the Inspirational Regency Readers Group in December. They drove to my place, brought props, and basically joined in on my hare-brained schemes. J They were great, and I could not (and would not) have done the video without them. My daughter took the day off from work to be our videographer, and she rocked it! Yay for the friend and film crew team!

6. I also met on Friday with a book club two hours from my home. We got together to fellowship and to make some crafts and of course to talk about books. This group of ladies has supported Christian fiction as a book club for more than 15 years, and they’re still going strong. I just love them. They encourage me every time we get together. Yay for a reader team!

 

7. Last night (I’m writing this on Saturday for a Monday post, so that tells you how busy my week has been) I got a reminder from our own Mindy Obenhaus about getting my updates into the Weekend Edition post. Mindy does this every week, reminding those who posted before and those who are due to post to get their blurbs in and pick winners, etc. Audra Harders creates the lovely Seekerville calendars each month, Seekers cover for each other if someone cannot post on their day, Ruthy sorta stage-manages us all, Debby produces the lovely Sunday Prayer posts, and…you would not believe the fervent and faithful prayers that surround any Seeker in need. Yay for a tight team of Seekers!

As you can see, my writing life has been a wee bit on the busy side, but it hasn’t all been sitting alone in my office staring at that judgmental blinking cursor all day. I have teams of people who have helped me accomplish every aspect of my writing life. I haven’t even mentioned my husband who has spent several evenings in sole possession of the remote control as I worked on edits into the late hours, nor how next week, Heather will be helping me plot my next novel so I can dive into writing it, or my church family who lent prayer and care while my husband and I were sick with the current virus du jour.

Do you have a team? Are you part of someone else’s team?

Best-selling, award-winning author Erica Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. She’s a transplanted Kansan now living in Minnesota, and she is married to her total opposite and soul mate! When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum and cheering on her Kansas Jayhawks and New Zealand All Blacks. You can connect with her at her website, www.ericavetsch.com where you can read about her books and sign up for her newsletter, and you can find her online at https://www.facebook.com/EricaVetschAuthor/ where she spends way too much time!

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