Writing My First Novel
The Journey to Writing My First Novel: From Pandemic Idea to Published Story
I originally wrote Teetering for both my husband and myself.
Like many others, as a result of the Pandemic, I found myself with unexpected time on my hands after closing my business towards the end of 2020. Yearning for a meaningful and productive daily routine, I turned to writing. This is how my novel, Teetering, was conceived. Though my only formal training was a high school creative writing class, I knew I had a natural ability for writing, evident in the poetry and letters I’ve penned over the years.
The original inspiration was an idea to write a biography of my husband. A self-made entrepreneur who rose from a New York City walk-up apartment to become an industry leader, well-known in both local and national political circles. His life - full of incredible, sometimes wild, stories, many of which I’ve experienced along his side provided an abundance of material that made it easy to begin visualizing the story of my dreams.
I don’t recall how soon it was, but at a certain point, I realized the project was shifting away from biography and evolving into a novel.
My personal home office became my creative sanctuary. Music, controlled by a tap of my finger, filled the room and my head. Playlists released inspiring and motivating emotions, triggering memories and thoughts that formed the words I typed on my computer. I kept a notebook with me for those moments on the go, quickly jotting down new ideas or sudden memories away from my keyboard.
With a compilation of pages, I began to layer in the setting, tone, and texture I hoped to convey.
The core of the narrative focused on a successful New York City couple, spanning several decades of marriage, while delving into the depths of their identities and the journey of how they evolved into the people they are today, all as the wife pushes back against the weight of societal expectations. A plot line emerged: the wife holding back a secret from everyone, including her husband. The story also conveyed how external appearances often mask a different internal reality. Ultimately, I had to address how she reconciled her own self-doubt and allowed acceptance and grace to take center stage.
Early on I worked with a writing coach whose advice was strikingly simple: “Just write.” She urged me not to worry about the heavy lifting of editing or sequencing in those early stages. Still, I wavered, caught between what to reveal and what to keep hidden. A sense of embarrassment would often wash over me as I imagined external eyes on my prose. Yet, I was repeatedly encouraged to let the creative process flow without restriction, reminded that “You can always edit something out later.” Feeling completely out of my element regarding how to transform a compilation of pages into a formal manuscript, I sought the guidance of a developmental editor. Together, we engaged in the heavy lifting of the craft, cutting, pasting, and refining existing text while weaving in new layers of material to complete the story.
The process of writing a novel was challenging, demanding, but also therapeutic. Whatever happens next, the tangible existence of my published story is the true measure of this unexpected achievement.