Taylor After One Year (looking back with my debut novel)

Well folks, it's happened. Almost one year ago, January 31st, 2025, I hit publish on my debut novel. My baby, my pride and joy, Taylor After Normal.

In a lot of ways, it feels like it's only been a minute since that happened. It feels like not a whole lot has happened at all between then and now. I'm certainly not on any best seller lists, if you know what I mean. But if I'm going to take a minute and really look back at life after TAN was published, I know that a lot did happen. My debut has done his job of carrying me into the world of published authors and I'm pretty proud of him for how far he's come. So let's take a minute to celebrate our success and recap a few of the things I've gotten to experience with this book at my side.

(Not so) humble beginnings

My first IG post about TAN.

Before we got into everything that's happened after, let's talk about the before. Let's take a trip back to August 2023 when some young girl got the brilliant idea to draft a whole new story and write the better part of it (over 35,000 words) in ONE WEEK. I'd be lying if a I said I'm not still wildly proud of that accomplishment. Though it's not my record anymore, since I hit over 60,000 in seven days this past fall (but let's not open that can of worms).

It's clear I had pretty big ambitions for this book but the story itself was simple. The first lines I jotted down are almost identical to the way the book still opens today. It was just a story of a boy who loses something precious, his health. And all the complicated feelings that come with that loss, and growing up, and family, and faith, and forgiveness, and learning not who you are - but who you want to be.

Stepping into Taylor's world I was alone, the story was bare bones, my understanding of his struggles was limited. But when it came time to share my book with beta readers (my favorite), something truly special happened.

Throughout the whole process of beta reading and editing and preparing this book for publication, I got to meet so many amazing people who related to the contents of my book. Whether it was Taylor's chronic illness, or Eames and Peace's neurodivergence, I got to make people laugh and cry and smile and see themselves in this once little story. And what I realized right away was that it wasn't really me, it was them. All those who read, and corrected, and shared their personal experiences now reflected through Taylor's journey. They made this story everything that it is and I will never stop pointing to them to give credit.

There's a major responsibility that comes with sharing a story that involves things you haven't personally experienced. I've never been chronically ill, I've never faced most of the challenges that Taylor has and I would never want to speak over the voices of anyone who has. This story belongs to them and I'm so grateful they trusted me enough to help me tell it.

I am committed to keeping the credit where it belongs and my money where my mouth is, which is I will always donate a potion of my profits (however small they may be) back to the chronically ill community. I love you guys so much. Thank you for everything.

After publishing

Almost two years, several rewrites, and one failed Kickstarter later, I kept my January release date by publishing TAN on the last day of the month (ha!).

I was completely burnt out by then, stressed from revisions and finances and trying (mostly failing) to market a book on social platforms that drain the life out of me. So TAN fell to the back burner pretty quickly after it's release. Marketing is still something I'm trying to get the hang of. But nevertheless, my love for this book remains.

And a lack of followers is hardly the only I have to show for it.

I've gotten to order a few different batches of books, signing many of them (big first!). Some went to family and friends, some went to Katie's Khronic Kare Project (a nonprofit you should totally check out) and some went with me to book fairs.

Character art by Susanna Fullerton (@suzelfruz_draws)

Speaking of book fairs, I got to check something off of my bucket list and attended two of them (my first ones!) on back to weekends in November.

I first attended one at The Art Garage in Green Bay WI and then I got to attend one at the Clintonville Public Library in Clintonville WI. The library was an especially cool experience for me since I work in a library and I am very passionate about what they do (very passionate). Both of these were great opportunities to talk to other authors and practice telling people about my book not over the internet (I may still need to work on that skill).

I've gotten some great feedback over the last year from my sweet readers and I always love hearing what stood out to them about the book, if they cried, and one of my favorites -- how they wanted to be a mom to all of my characters (they're bringing out some maternal instincts here).

Review by "ES" on goodreads.

But what I'm most proud of was that my book is now available in six libraries in Wisconsin (five of which I personally donated to!). I absolutely love seeing my book on the shelf when I visit these libraries. I was a library kid through and through, making weekly visits and reading everything I could get my hands on. And now it's become my passion and my job and the reason I started college. Having my book in a library (much less six) means so much to me. That's my favorite thing that's happened all year for sure.

What's next for Taylor After Normal you may be asking? Well, he'll continue being his angst filled self and I'll continue writing and attending book fairs when I can and enjoying hearing from everyone who I've met through this journey.

And TAN just got a little upgrade. Made some tweaks to the jacket design (credit to Jess Barker of Brush to Blades) and finally got my printer to include Taylor's jersey number on the back! Fancy fancy.

Happy first birthday Taylor After Normal!

Me very shortly after my book was on a library shelf. Chaotic pictures followed, girl didn't even fix her hair.

And to past Emma, we did it. We published. We have words in the world and people like them. What could be a better ending than that?