What was the hardest thing about writing a book? #Reader Mail#Offbeat Bride the book Updated Oct 12 2015 (Posted Apr 8 2010) Ariel findyourafterglow What was the hardest thing about writing the book and how long did it take to complete? -Alisha The book took me about a year to write, and there were two hard parts: Dealing with the isolation of writing. Summer Pierre said it best when she said that while people love to romanticize the process of writing, actually it can be pretty boring. I'd written for magazines, where you get feedback in a few months. I'd written for the web, where you get feedback almost immediately. But writing a book means no feedback for a year or more. My editor was relatively hands-off, so it was mostly just me by myself with a screen, clacking away on a keyboard. Ronereee. So ronereeeee… Respecting the privacy of friends & family. My rule of thumb is never to write something about someone that I wouldn't read out loud standing in front of them. While I was fine exposing my own stupidity, I wanted to make sure I had full consent to share other people's stories. This made it hard to share certain parts of the story, and of course what you read in the book isn't all there is. There were all sorts of things that I simply couldn't write about, out of respect to others. Sometimes, sitting alone working on the book, I felt like I had my family and in-laws and friends reading over my shoulder, saying "I never said that!" and "It certainly didn't happen like that!" It's part of why the book is so much about me me me — I didn't have to worry about offending myself. If you're curious about my process of writing the book, I blogged about it on my personal website, and then imported the posts when I launched OBB. Oh and speaking of the book, I'm doing a reading in San Francisco next Friday, April 16th! If you're in the Bay Area, you should come! There will be cupcakes, and Meg Keene will be there too, so she can read from her sidebar in the budget chapter. SPECIAL BONUS: Andreas and Tavi will be with me for DILF & cute baby oggling action! Date: Friday, April 16, 2010 Time: 7:30pm – 8:30pm Location: Booksmith 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco CA If you think you can come, please oh please RSVP! Ariel Author of three editions of the Offbeat Bride book and the brand-new From Shitshow To Afterglow, Ariel Meadow Stallings acts as the publisher of all the Offbeat Empire websites. She lives in Seattle with her son, and if she's not reading or writing books, chances are good that she's dancing or happy-crying. To follow her latest work, join join The Afterglow, for exclusive access to essays, videos, online courses, and more. PREVIOUS How to DIY your own rustic twig ball bouquet NEXT Alissa & Amanda's "Love Bus" wedding adventure Show/Hide comments [ 3 ] Thank you so much for writing this, Ariel! Reply Nooo! Why couldn't this be happening on, say, the 18th through the 22nd, when I will actually be in California? :le sigh: Hope it goes well! Reply Wait…you *AND* Meg in the same place at the same time?!?!? *pout* I can't believe I'm going to miss that! You two are my favorite forms of wedding sanity! Well, have fun and good luck! 😀 Reply Join the conversation Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Sign me up for your offbeat awesomeness newsletter! No-drama comment policy Part of what makes the Offbeat Empire different is our commitment to civil, constructive commenting. Make sure you're familiar with our no-drama comment policy. Biz owners & wedding bloggers Please just use your real name in your comment, not your business name or blog title. Our comments are not the place to pimp your website. If you want to promote your stuff on Offbeat Bride, join us as an advertiser instead.
Nooo! Why couldn't this be happening on, say, the 18th through the 22nd, when I will actually be in California? :le sigh: Hope it goes well! Reply
Wait…you *AND* Meg in the same place at the same time?!?!? *pout* I can't believe I'm going to miss that! You two are my favorite forms of wedding sanity! Well, have fun and good luck! 😀 Reply