Traveler, There Is No Road

The road is made by walking. --Antonia Machado

Crested Butte, Colorado

Immediately after I left my corporate job in 2023, I signed up for a six month writing course called “Write Your Young Adult Novel” with the Curtis Brown Creative agency, based in London. They are known as a successful literary agency that also teaches a variety of online writing classes. There were sixteen of us in the weekly class, but only three Americans: myself, Olivia and Eddie. Eddie was also writing a contemporary young adult story and after the course ended, we continued to meet up monthly on zoom to compare notes and support each other on our writing journey. That feels like a lifetime ago in 2024.

I’m thrilled to share that Eddie’s debut novel - The Open Era - was just published this month and I couldn’t be more excited for him!

Eddie wrote a charming gay romance that takes place over two weeks at the US Open. And I think the simplicity of the premise is part of the reason it sold so fast. If I say only five words, you grasp the entire story: gay + romance + tennis + mental health.

Just as Eddie was finishing his book in the spring of 2024, the tennis movie Challengers was released, starring Zendaya. And there was a lot of enthusiasm that summer for all things tennis. So while Eddie was not chasing market trends, he was smart enough to take advangtage of them, and he doubled down that summer to quickly finish his editing. Eddie had a typical day job and every day he’d work on his book for an hour or two before work. He was incredibly steady and consistent.

Then in August of 2024, he started to query book agents and pretty quickly he had multiple agent offers. He snagged a top tier agent and within a couple months they had revised and sold his novel. And now, less than two years later, his book is published and out in the world! His publishing journey was incredibly fast and straightforward.

I guess you could say that Eddie is my first published writing friend I met before he was published. And there’s several reasons I view him as a writing role model:

• He didn’t overthink things. He was practical and focused, showing up every day to write and edit the book. He queried agents, picked an agent, and then quickly implemented his agent’s recommended revisions. Within a month, they had his book out on submission to publishers.

• He was strategic with his approach to finding an agent. His book pitch was simple and sincere. Charming in a way that matched his story.

• With a background in design, he was very intentional about wanting some outstanding cover art. His cover design is fabulous!

• He had tremendous success to quickly sell his debut novel, but he stayed practical to keep his day job. And he proceeded to write his second book, which he’s also finishing this month, as he releases his first book. Talk about productivity!

Eddie is a living breathing example of someone without any previous publishing experience, without any major platform, who successfully finished and published his debut novel. Sometimes, when we have any new desire in life, it can be very helpful to find ordinary role models, to find the people doing this thing you want to do. Not just for publishing, but for anything in life.

Figuring out who your role models are can help you figure out what exactly you value. When my boyfriend was approaching retirement at a relatively young age, he was one of the first of his friends to retire. So he found and followed a writer who was studying retirement in depth, researching which factors make a retirement successful. My boyfriend read his book and followed his blog to learn how to do retirement well. He found his retirement role model.

I have a friend going through a divorce in her forties with two teenage kids. She has many divorced friends, and she’s given a lot of careful thought and analysis about how to have the best possible divorce, with the most positive outcomes for her children. She used all her divorced friends as role models - both good and bad - to help her navigate her own choices. She looked around to see what lessons she could learn from others.

Whether it’s retirement, or divorce, or a job change, or anything we want to pursue in life, it can helpful to find ordinary role models. Not famous celebrities, but everyday people who are making choices every day about how to live. Who else is doing this thing you want to do? And who else is doing it well? Maybe you want to take a sabbatical, or make a career pivot, or move to a new country. Maybe you’re a brand new grandparent and you want to be a great one.

Finding your everyday role models can show you what’s possible for yourself. And anti-role models can show you what you don’t want for yourself.

Which is why I’m grateful to Eddie for showing me that making a career pivot to publish a novel is actually possible. I’m certain my path will look different from his. But watching Eddie navigate publishing is like following someone holding up a lantern to illuminate the way.

Eddie’s probably twenty years younger than me, but he’s not bogged down with a lot of emotional baggage and self doubt. He’s a gay man living in NYC who’s overflowing with a love of tennis and a desire for romance. He simply wrote the story he wanted to live.

Thanks to Eddie and all my other writing role models who show up every day and do the work. I appreciate all of you for lighting the way.

Isn’t this an awesome cover? You can check out Eddie’s debut book here.