Anniversaries
Of two years freelancing, of five years since my debut, and of one year with my next project
Hello dear reader!
I’m obsessed with the fall. The city is gorgeous, the coffee is spiced, the sweaters are soft, and best of all… it’s Libra season. Ooh la la!
I’m always waxing poetic about time, and aside from my nine year New York-iversary (woah!) this autumn commemorates a few special things for me. I want to share them with you.
Autumn Anniversary #1: Two full years of freelancing
I left my full time job in publishing back in 2022. At the time, I decided not to make a big announcement about it. I loved my job, and I loved the smart, funny, talented team of designers & art directors I worked with. I did not love the idea of strangers on the internet thinking I left because I was unhappy!
Ultimately, I left because working full time and working on books at the same time is really, really, really hard. When I was asked to start adjuncting, it was time to make the leap to freelance. People still congratulate me on leaving, which is well-intentioned but makes me a little uncomfortable. Freelancing is tough, y’all! I may need to get a job again in the future. Who knows! It’s been a messy two years with a lot of learning, and I wanted to share some reflection. This isn’t advice. Pretend we’re chatting over coffee or tea or whatever, okay?
If you’re exhausted trying to write and illustrate while working full time, that’s normal. That situation IS exhausting, and it doesn’t leave much (any???) time for hobbies or a social life or the general ease and relaxation and stability that should come with having a full-time job.
Keeping a healthy savings account is the only way I’ve felt okay-ish operating as a freelancer. My income is split between freelance design work + book advances + teaching sprinkled in. Those income sources are unpredictable and fraught with late payments. Junior level publishing salaries are nearly unlivable, so working on my own books (and getting burnt out in the process) was the only thing that allowed me to grow a nest egg. I’m always going to be slightly nervous about finances, but without a nest egg I would be freaking out all the time. For me, freaking out isn’t conducive for writing fun, cool, imaginative books for children. But hey. To each their own.
Okay, this one is advice: outreach early. Like I mentioned, a large chunk of my income is freelance book design. I should’ve done a huge blitz of outreach the moment I left my job, and I didn’t. Was it stubbornness? Nerves? Imposter syndrome? All of that, probably. It took about 6-8 months to get concrete results after my first round of outreach. Learn from my mistakes: people can’t hire you if they don’t know you exist.
I need to take care of myself before I’m stressed out. When it’s a quiet season and I’m nervous about my income or not having enough work, it feels like I’m need to double down and work even more. No time for luxuries. No yoga, no long walks, no inspiration trips to museums. This deeply ingrained grindset probably came from attending an intense art school + growing up working class, and my coping mechanism was work work work. But that’s really bananas and really unhealthy. As a freelancer, quiet times are the perfect time to recharge and prepare for when busy comes back. I’m actively working on this.
I’ve occasionally underused one of my biggest resources: my agent! I love my agent. She’s thoughtful and supportive and kind. Most importantly, she trusts my vision and I trust hers. So why was I working in isolation trying to figure everything out by myself when I had the amazing Andrea Morrison at my disposal?
I was trapped in perfectionism. Ick!
I hold works in progress very close to the chest, and usually that’s a good thing. In the early stages, I find that too many opinions can confuse my inner compass, and most of my questions can be answered by time spent with a project. Most of my questions. Not all of my questions.
Cue my realization: Veronica, you need to get things off your desk faster!
It doesn’t make much sense to spend weeks and weeks ruminating on a project that might not have legs or be a hard sell to publishers. Every time I discuss a project with Andrea, I leave with a clearer head and better understanding of the path forward. Back in January, I sent her a suite of projects at a variety of stages. Some were a rough idea with a sketch, others had manuscripts that I had been chewing over. Andrea’s feedback helped me narrow in on which project was the next project. I made that book into a dummy, and we had it on submission 6 months later. And guess what? We sold it! If I waited until I had something “perfect,” I’d still be sitting at my desk with a pile of crumpled up pages, and we’d all be gather dust.
I take every month of freelancing as a gift. The time and space to write and make art during the day is something I will never take for granted. You heard it first! Here’s to keeping our heads above water.
Autumn Anniversary #2: five years of the Secret Spy Society
The first book wasn’t published until March 2021, but autumn of 2019 is when I first sold my project to the wonderful people at Viking Children’s Books. To me, this will always be the anniversary.
When we went on submission with this book, I had no expectations. If someone wanted to publish it, yay! But I had the will and optimism of a fresh graduate and was perfectly happy to throw it out and start a new project if needed. Ahhh, youth! (That’s kind of a joke, but it’s only five years later and I feel tired just thinking about it.)
Anyway. Imagine my surprise when one of my dream imprints had strong interest in the Secret Spy Society! Maybe I’ll share a longer post about the submission process if folks are interested. Let me know! But for now, I’ll simply say: thank you Lady Spies. You inspire me and I love you forever!
Autumn Anniversary #3: One year since a fresh book deal
I can finally shout from the rooftop: my next book is coming! I am so fortunate to work with the wonderful folks at Viking on a picture book biography of American composer Aaron Copland! Here’s the official announcement from Publisher’s Weekly:
I’m very critical on my own projects, but ya know what? I love this book. I’m very proud of how it’s shaped up, I can’t wait to share it with the world.
I began researching this book in earnest at the end of 2022 and took months of reading and listening to Copland’s music before I even tried to write the manuscript. Books are slow! When I finally put pen to paper, I was amazed at how naturally the story spilled out. It’s changed even more since then, and I’m so fortunate to have a wonderful, whip-smart editor collaborating with me on this. I’m in the thick of final art right now. It will be dense with color and texture and shape. If I can capture just a smidge of the magic in Copland’s music I will be overjoyed. That’s a big task. Wish me luck!
Until next time!
Veronica
XOXO
