18 Comments
Apr 6Liked by Laura Leffler

I started my book on March 9, 2014 and have just finished it, finished it. There were some false finishes, but now I'm truly ready to start querying and your story has filled me with encouragement. Thank you.

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I love that you know the exact day you started. A milestone for you too, congratulations! Sometimes it absolutely takes 10 years. Good luck!

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Apr 4Liked by Laura Leffler

I'm about to turn 36 and I only recently got serious about my ambition to publish a novel... This makes me excited to see what I'm able to accomplish in the next 10 years. I hope I'll be as resilient as you. I'll aim to be, at least :) Thank you for sharing <3

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From one twin mom to another, huge congratulations for enduring, and happy 10th bday to your kids!! ❤️

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thank you :)

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Thank you for this, Laura. I'm so inspired by how you gave *yourself* permission to keep going, to keep writing. I feel like often as writers we wait for other people to assign our work value, and this holds us back.

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so true!

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Apr 4Liked by Laura Leffler

Thank you for sharing this journey with us and allowing us these glimpses into your life!

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Thank you for reading!!

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Love this story Laura and that you didn’t give up!

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Thank you!

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I identified so much with this and feel so much better about my turtle-esque journey! It took me 10 years to get back to writing after I realized I wanted more financial stability for my future children, hustled my way into my corporate career, had kids thanks to health insurance, then (as you perfectly put) submitted myself to them. It wasn't until I had PPD with my second that things were very clear to me that I needed to find a way back to my dream of being a novelist. 10 years ago, I had a terrible terrible first draft completed and was researching agents and query letters prematurely. Now it feels like starting over with a new novel, but also like riding a bike. A bike that has way more experience with life! Hearing your slow journey, partly delayed due to a bump from your kids, gives me hope on mine!

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I once compared my first manuscript to the first pancake— it’s practice, just to feel things out. Good luck with book 2! ❤️

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Apr 4Liked by Laura Leffler

Thank you so much for sharing this story. I can relate on so many levels. For one thing, my second child turned 10 about a month ago. So much can happen in 10 years yet progress demands more patience than we think we contain. Next month I’ll be pitching a novel (that I’ve been working on off and on for 6 years, writing and rewriting and editing and rewriting again) to agents at a writers conference. Thank you for inspiring me with a sense of possibility and hope.

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Good luck!!!

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This is amazing. Thank you for sharing this. Writing is so lonely and getting anywhere with it takes a long time, I think many of us feel like we're the only one who's not an instant success. Congratulations on sticking to it, with all the endless twists and turns!

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I so needed to read this today Laura. This is a long game. When life intervenes--like tending to those precious babies of yours--we think we've lost the plot. But the story was continuing all along, ready for you to pick up the narrative again. Happy for you and inspired by you.

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❤️

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