Many of you know that I spent six + years writing Cinnamon Girls. This is not so unusual, but it felt like a huge chunk of my recent life. I developed my material in three different writer’s groups. The first was a four-woman group in Silverlake, quite a hike from my Venice, CA home. I brought my nursing baby son, then eventually my newborn daughter. It was easily an hour drive from my house and the group met once a week and continued for 3 years. Author Leslie Schwartz hosted it at her home, and we saw her through a change of agents and development of a second novel, a second book deal, a wedding and a first child. That group ended when one of the women moved to Paris for a year with her new husband.

I then took up with a group that spun out of author Hope Edleman’s creative nonfiction workshop. That group continued for two years, with one of our members having her first novel published right after the group split up. I wondered if my momentum would ever return. I finished writing the book on my own after that, working at the Santa Monica College library where my wireless internet didn’t work, and I had absolutely no distractions. The modern library had wonderful cubicles that looked out at the trees and campus sky, and they had good, cheap veggie burritos at the cafeteria across the courtyard. It was lonely, but I finally embraced the fact that writing is a solitary pursuit, except for the company we keep with our characters.

My new years’ resolution for 2008 was to finish the book, and I worked with life coach Colleen Vinetz to make sure I kept that promise to myself. I made it to “the end” in August, then completed a major rewrite by the following May. I joined a new SCBWI writers group only when I was “finished” with the manuscript, and shopping it around for an agent. I landed an agent in July and began a minor revision, glad to executethoughtful notes from an intelligent junior agent whose excitement about the book was infectious.

Along the way, I ignored much of the advice of fellow writers. But when a comment rang true to me, I acted on it. Sometimes it hurt to acknowledge how massive the changes to the manuscript needed to be. But I was grateful for any chance to make the book better. Occasionally the tweaks I made were easy and impactful. In the end I cherish the collaboration with fellow writers, trusted readers, family members who helped with research, and my BFF “Lisa” who gave me her blessing to write a novel based on our true story.

Now it’s time to turn over the results (so much easier said than done) and begin my next solo journey: novel #2. Thankfully, I don’t expect to have any babies during this one!