Ask the Author: Abby Rosmarin
Answered Questions (5)
Abby Rosmarin
Do it for the love of it. If you do it for literally any other reason -- the hypothetical money (spoiler alert: there isn't any) or the recognition or the attention, then you'll burn yourself out. This field is too rough and too unforgiving to be driven by anything other than that deep love of the craft.
Also: be prepared to realize how you're not prepared for rejection. We know intellectually that rejection is the nature of the beast, but we all hope we'll be the exception to the rule. It still stings when the agent you really wanted, or the print house that showed promise, or the magazine you've been desperate to be published in, turns you down.
Also: be prepared to realize how you're not prepared for rejection. We know intellectually that rejection is the nature of the beast, but we all hope we'll be the exception to the rule. It still stings when the agent you really wanted, or the print house that showed promise, or the magazine you've been desperate to be published in, turns you down.
Abby Rosmarin
It's twofold:
There is a high that a writer gets when everything is falling into place, when the words are pouring out of you and your characters are talking faster than you can write it down and you can literally hear the *click* as it all comes together. It is an otherworldly, surreal, exhilarating, terrifying experience. And there's nothing like it.
The other part has nothing to do with the actual act of writing, but in the aftermath of other people reading it. There is nothing I love more than when people get in contact with me and tell me that my writing has resonated with them, reassured them, made them understand the world in a new or different way. There's nothing a lot more than to give people that platform to begin to heal or learn something more about themselves.
There is a high that a writer gets when everything is falling into place, when the words are pouring out of you and your characters are talking faster than you can write it down and you can literally hear the *click* as it all comes together. It is an otherworldly, surreal, exhilarating, terrifying experience. And there's nothing like it.
The other part has nothing to do with the actual act of writing, but in the aftermath of other people reading it. There is nothing I love more than when people get in contact with me and tell me that my writing has resonated with them, reassured them, made them understand the world in a new or different way. There's nothing a lot more than to give people that platform to begin to heal or learn something more about themselves.
Abby Rosmarin
Write. I know, that sounds like terrible advice, right? Have writer's block? Write! But, seriously: write. Get out a notebook and pen (which I have found takes away the pressure of writing anything profound) and just stream-of-conscious that noise. Write about your day, about what's on your mind. Write about how you feel like a sham and a fraud and you'll never amount to anything as a writer. Just keep going at it. If you start getting ideas for your book, write those notes down, too. Sometimes writing is like trying to break through the ice: you have to chip at it, centimeter by centimeter, with the faith that eventually you'll hit it in just the right way it all will fall into place.
Abby Rosmarin
Right now, I'm working on finalizing everything for In the Event the Flower Girl Explodes! Outside of that, I have my hand in two projects: the first being my second collection of poetry, which I hope to have released by the end of the year, and the second being the beginnings of what will be my sixth fiction manuscript (and a quasi-sequel to a manuscript that I hope to have published within the next few years).
Abby Rosmarin
The main inspiration came from a two-year period where everyone (including me) was getting married. No wedding planning is without its drama, both the absurd and the heavy-hitting. It got me thinking about a lot of things, including what happens when a marriage feels like you're losing a vital family member. Likewise, I started thinking about the interesting geography of Florida -- how some parts are considered the South, but not others, and what would happen if a part that was very much NOT the South tried to pass itself off as one.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more