People are like books, containing journeys, adventures, and hidden turns. Today’s post is about the journey of a young entrepreneur working to make the world of reading a little bit brighter.
Rae was kind enough to help me with my book launch last year and I finally got around to thanking her formally and letting her share her voice here on my blog. Go check out the awesome post she did for me on her website.
Within the Pages
by Rae
I could start off from the very beginning of my book journey with my grandma’s reading challenge the summer before high school. I could continue with my plunge into writing and fanfiction and the overwhelming consuming of the #feels that come with author admiration, character boyfriends, and more. From there I can spin my web of story telling to encompass my writing journey at college and all that I did there – successes and mishaps. Following college my writing took a nose dive into a pill of forgotten story ideas while my blog burped under my relentless pursuit of being a book blogger and becoming a part of a community I admired and feared. And yet, where am I now?
You see, everything that has happened has shaped me into who I am today – a freelance editor with a young business, a reader buried under her TBR list, and a writer struggling to type a sentence while ignoring the imposter that whispers in both ears. Let’s not even go into the MFA rant because believe me…it’s complicated.
From a book challenge till now as I type this, has been intense, scary, beautiful, heartbreaking, and ironic. I tried so long to ignore my voice, ignore the stories…and still books brought me home.
Now it might sound corny, but bear with me here. As a reader we all have at least one book that sticks with us. You know exactly what I mean. That book that haunts you from the shelf, that sneaks into your dreams or daydreams, that influences an action when you find yourself floundering to react in a situation. Then of course there are the book boyfriends and idols we all want to be but can’t figure out how to find them within ourselves or others. But I digress here.
Each one of my roles – editor, reader, writer – all lead me back to the story, the words on the page that entice me to tears, provoke me into a rage, that shield me from reality when life gets too unbearable. I look for the book that doesn’t let me go, that I suffer through a book hangover for days trying to pick up the pieces and connect the what if this or that had happened. I look for the book that glares at me from my shelf and I glare back because how did it get so far under my skin? I need the happy ending. I need the realistic ending. I need the ending where it is such a cliff hanger that I want to hook up a bungee cord and make the leap because I know the story has got to be continuing.
As an editor I want to help that story grow and be ready to face the world.
As a reader I want my reviews to shower reflection and insight.
As a writer I want my story to leave an impact of some kind.
Will it be pretty? No. Will it be perfect and loved by all? Nope.
But that is the beauty of it. Writing is messy. Books are messy. Being a fangirl, reviewer, bookstagrammer, editor, and so on is messy. Take the good and the bad and go with it. That next book is waiting for you. Go find it or go better yet – write it.
About today’s guest –
Rae is a writing and reading instructor at an elementary school by day, freelance editor by night, and fangirl at every other available opportunity. She always knew books were her passion, well after her grandmother’s challenge to read a book a day, and obtained her B.A. in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from Arcadia University. Currently, she’s drowning in her TBR list, deciding on whether or not to go for her MFA, outlining her would be novel, and expanding her freelancing business while looking for more bookish things to get involved with. She is active on Twitter, Instagram, and sometimes Facebook when she remembers.
You can connect with Rae at the following links:
Rae offers freelance editing!
A New Look On Books is a professional freelance editing service that aims to get manuscripts ready for querying and publication.
A testimonial about her services –
“Rae’s sample edit exceeded my expectations. To say that her instincts were spot-on is an understatement. She immediately “got” my characters, had a sense of where I was going, and offered suggestions that immediately tightened up my manuscript. If you’re searching for a qualified and passionate editor who will challenge you to make your book better, look no further.”
— R. Bazylak @bazlactica
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Jodi L. Milner, Author 