Veronica King

Tag: traditional publishing

  • My thoughts on the online writing space

    My thoughts on the online writing space

    To say the online writing space impacted me greatly would be an understatement. It completely changed my life. Being in the commuity changed what I thought I was capable of accomplishing. When I first found Authortube I was three months post partumn, dealing with some nasty depression, and a looming pandemic on the horizon. Needless to say we weren’t doing so hot, and at that time of my life I was already living in a pretty sheltered, isolated, rural environment. I knew that this space would be good for me. Deep down I knew that these little interactions in a youtube chat would help me. I couldn’t have explored that community given my circumstances and culture where I grew up, but lucky for me, I had someone in my corner to help me spiral upward instead of downward. She encouraged me to follow my interests, and remain optimisitic. One of my favorite tactics my wife used were positive what ifs. 

    What if it all worked out?

    What if I finished writing a book?

    What if people enjoyed what I wrote?

    What if I made lasting friendships with other writers?

    What if Im actually good at something?

    I wouldn’t know until I tried. So tried I did.

    With these positive what ifs (my former therapist would be so proud) the summer following the big autumn writing event I made the choice to put myself out there. Now you must understand this was a BIG deal. I am a more shy person who doesn’t see the point of drawing attention to herself, but I knew that something needed to change. All I needed was a push from my partner. The authortube sphere quickly became a lifeline for me while dealing with an erroding mental health. The space also resurrected a dream I thought was long past its expiration. It had felt like a whirlwind of meeting people and staying up late with baby #1 and drafting stories had made me feel a spark of life again. 

    As weeks turned to months the drawbacks of being online had become painfully uncomfortable regarding a certain unspoken edge of dualitly. While making friends was a blast sometimes it had felt like if you didn’t have the magic follower number beside your name some people remained ‘off limits’. NOW a quick little note I do understand why people with larger followings are more hesitant to meet new people, because people can suck and some are just after social points. The feelings I had though weren’t soley unique to me. I had met other writers who felt the same, that the number by our name had someone became how ‘valueable’ we were. Early on there were a lot of things about myself that made me feel inadequate, such as being from a poor rural area, my writing was rusty, and a lower number wasn’t helping. Other people I found had a more healthy outlook though. These writers had the mindset of they were here to make friends the numbers didn’t matter as much they just wanted to enjoy themselves and make content they were proud of. Im grateful to have gotten that perspective because it made it clear to me that sucess doesnt look one way. We, ourselves, set the peramiters for our own success and I think many of us would be a lot happier if we embraced that.

    looking back at the past six years I have made lasting connections with dear friends. I have three published books, a lenormand deck, and signed projects on the docket. While I am still finding my confidence with being perceived, I do feel in a far better place now than when I started this writing journey. I adore this creative career I have carved out for myself, and while I am currently living out my happily ever after in beautiful New England, something deep in my gut is telling me that this is just the start of something meaningful and lasting.

  • the pressures of author-hood

    the pressures of author-hood

    As of drafting this blog post, let me just say as someone who has written and had a book ready to go to pub. within five months, to have a year ahead with no releases but somehow more work on my plate, I had to figure out quickly how to cope with the demands of being an author. Especially, in what I am calling the year of being an engaged author. I like to think my background makes me adaptable and resilient when facing external stresses. But for any aspiring author out there I wanted to share how I get through career pressure, deadlines, and stresses.

    I try my best as a neurospicey individual to have a loose time frame of what work hours are. Currently I work from 9am to about 2pm, and another thing that is helpful is that I let these hours change when needed. I am also not writing for the duration of the five hours. There’s blog posts to be drafted, graphics to be made, social media to interact with, and of course that’s not including the items to do in my personal life. So, one of the best tools in my arsenal is maximizing work time. This means working on my phone in the pick up/drop off  line at school, or when the family is asleep, so I can focus on tasks in front of me. While I can’t quite sacrifice sleep like I used to, fitting in little blips of time for tasks helps a great deal. 

    The other tool I like to utilize is setting myself up for success by setting goals that are specific, and achievable. For example while drafting this blog I have a manuscript to finish drafting and another manuscript to revise; however, today I needed to have some wins under my belt so it’s a batch drafting blog posts kinda day. The power of this tool is that you can be adaptable in your approach to the work. 

    Speaking of adaptability, that is a trait that is much needed when pursuing a creative field. Something else that helps is effective and open communication with those in your working circle. Depending on your publishing route the people in your working circles may change, but that doesnt mean its any less important. Now, this was something early in my career that I prided myself on not needing. I have a lot of qualities I like about myself but when needed I am a work horse and I do well under pressure, but that mindset I prided myself in was also the reason that I was feeling a slump and potentially on the edge of burn out.

    For me, at this moment I needed some extra time. Some help. So, I reached out to Zara to have a discussion about needing an extension. Luckily, I was timely about voicing this need so it wasn’t an issue. I could now breathe easy knowing I had more time to turn in a product that I was not only happy with but also proud of. 

    Speaking of breathing easy, the last tool that really helps me manage the stress and pressure is having a nightly routine with my wife of a relaxing cozy game. Lately, we’ve been playing Cult of Lamb together, but an old and favorite is Stardew Valley. So, find yourself something that brings you joy that has no connection to your creative work.

  • Silver Lined Reflections

    Silver Lined Reflections

    2025 was a year of everything not going according to plan, and I am glad the plans didn’t work out. 

    Now during the time that the changes were happening it felt like I was in the trenches, between career expectations, and personal life goals things were not all falling in place for me like I thought they would. This translated to feelings of failure and really affected my self-esteem, but I am dangerously optimistic and these are the silver linings I found in the darkness.

    While the manuscripts I thought I’d be focusing on were shuffled around, I’m really happy with the work I’ve done this year. And that sentence alone is momentous for someone who, for her whole adult life, had tied her value to her work output.

    Have I written more books in years before? 

    yes. 

    Do I need to meet that level of production every year?

    No. 

    I have actively in past years downplayed any accomplishment I have made because the thought of well i’ve done it so how hard could it actually have been? And it took awhile but I’m happy to say regardless of if it’s my first pixel art piece or the release of my fourth official work I am going on record to say I will be celebrating every victory, small, big, even those schmedium wins.

    The overall  take away is that it’s okay to be happy with the work you do and not have to focus on output. I feel like that’s a pretty cliche take but if it gets more folks talking about it, I will happily yap. 

    Because my plans went awry I had the opportunity to dive into a new genre, and write a story with someone I consider one of my closest friends. The novel is feminine rage converging with a deconstruction story, and a wlw romance. This is a story I hope to share more details with you sooner rather than later. It’s gritty, and graphic, but the themes are important to talk about and I’m so proud of Chandra and I for carefully stitching such a tale together. I also had another contract signed with my publisher, Inimitable Books, so that was exciting. I feel like the line up we have in store will really expand upon the Veronica King’dom’ in a crafty way. That again, I look forward to elaborating on in the new year. 

    To my small readership I hope you have enjoyed the books that came out this year, and while I’m hard at work, I am happy to say I have a bit of a break as there are no planned book releases for me in 2026. So I guess follow along for the little updates, as I do have big(albeit more realistic) goals in the new year.

    While right now everything that’s behind us can be looked at with clear perspective and the future is foggy, but in view. I look forward to navigating the waters of 2026, and sharing my voyage on the career front, because I’m very fortunate to have such a supportive crew working alongside me. So thank you 2025, because of you I found myself saying often that there’s always a secret third option, and every setback can be an opportunity if looked at with enough creativity.