L.A. Garnett – Author

The most important thing for a writer to have is confidence. Some level of skill at the craft and the grit to keep going is helpful, but you won’t get far without a firm belief that what you are doing is worth it and that people are going to be interested in your voice.

We hear time and time again that “everything has already been written”. Personally, I find this freeing. I don’t need the burden of inventing the wheel—I’m just putting my spin on it. I wanted a fantasy with elemental powers; I knew from the start that I wasn’t the first to do that! I’ve read tons of amazing stories with those very same components. To keep going I had to believe that my story was worth telling, and that required a hell of a lot of confidence in my vision and in my ability to see it through.

If I’m being honest, half the reason it took eight years to get this book out into the world is that I lacked that confidence in the beginning. I had this unwieldy draft (my first draft was close to 600 pages, spanning what I now know to be two books’ worth of the series) and a lot of anxiety about both the quality of writing and where the story was going. I didn’t know the end, I was getting bogged down by character backstories and my world’s timeline, and I kept editing as I went so the beginning was looking decent but the middle and the end completely fell off.

I had to take a step back and reassess. It was vital that I trust my skills—I’d written a lot. Not many people do that and reminding myself that I was writing for a reason did wonders. This is why I continuously tell people that your first draft is probably not that good—and that’s OKAY. You just have to keep going. You’re only going to get better, and there WILL be people who want to read your story.

The Spiraling, my debut book, is out now! Check it out on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you buy books online. I’m so excited for this book to be out in the world, and I can’t wait for you to read it.