Reading Is My Breathing: GUEST POST: Welcome Mary Elizabeth, author of Innocents

Innocents (Dusty #1) is my first published novel. I've participated in my fair

share of writing projects before I got serious about tale-telling as a career.
But there is a huge difference between writing for the hell of it and writing
something that a serious reader is going to purchase and hopefully review and
pass on to their family and friends.

There's a pressure I had no idea I would feel.

As a new author, I want this experience to be perfect. My hope is that everyone
likes me enough to read my work. It would be nice if readers, bloggers, agents,
publishers and everyone else in our business sees me as a true novelist.

I want my book to be great, and I've been more than willing to work hard...

But why didn't anyone tell me what a pain editing is?

Apparently, I have a habit of writing in a "passive voice." No joke, I drove my editor insane, even if she did sugar coat her annoyance.

She's sweet.

My co-writer and I knew Dusty was going to need work, but when we got the first
draft back and saw all of the red, I knew I wasn't writing fan fiction anymore!

Why didn't you tell me how expensive self-publishing a book is?

I've come to learn that everything in the publishing industry has a very hefty price
tag. My hope is that my investment is returned after the Innocents releases,
and while I did have a lot of people come forward and offer their services,
there were extra costs I didn't expect. Such as the fees for registering The
Elizabeths, LLC. in the state of California, postage (it adds up fast!), blog
tours, formatting, licensing rights, merchandise, and ISBN numbers.

I have a small fortune invested in Dusty. Just a reminder that writing a book
isn't only about the writing. There's a very tricky business side to it, too.

WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME I WOULD NEVER SLEEP AGAIN???

The book demands to be written.

Usually, because there's a deadline, and if you aren't done by your deadline, everything
and everyone else falls behind, too.

I learned this the hard way.

Why didn't you tell me to do this sooner?

Oh, yeah. You did.

My readers have told me for years to publish a book. I should have listened to you
all the first time you said it. Creating a piece of art for the world to have
has been one of my most fulfilling accomplishments.

It's not easy, and totally full of deadlines, arguments, expenses, late nights, and
a horrible passive voice, but it's worth all of the trouble.

I'm already looking forward to the next book.

Mary Elizabeth:

Writing stories about the skeletons hanging in your closets

Author Bio

Mary Elizabeth is an up and coming author who

finds words in chaos, writing stories about the skeletons hanging in your

closets. Known as The Realist, she is one half of The Elizabeths—a duo brave

enough to never hide the truth. Her anticipated co-written debut novel, Innocents (Dusty #1), will be released July 14, 2014. Inspired by the broken lyrics of a single song and the idea that

monsters have softer sides, “Dusty” was originally posted for free and had been

read over a million and a half times. Working day and night, she hopes that the

published edition will be just as loved.

Mary was born and raised in Southern California.

She is a wife, mother of four beautiful children, and dog tamer to one

enthusiastic Pit Bull and a prissy Chihuahua. She’s a hairstylist by day but

contemporary fiction, new adult author by night. Mary can often be found finger

twirling her hair and chewing on a stick of licorice while writing and

rewriting a sentence over and over until it’s perfect. She discovered her

talent for tale-telling accidentally, but literature is in her chokehold. And

she’s not letting go until every story is told.

“The heart is deceitful above all things and