Guest Post: How Songbird Came to Be by Angela Fristoe

How Songbird Came to Be by Angela Fristoe

In October 2009 I was talking with some writers about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which a contest to write 50,000 words in 30 days held every November. A day before it started, I almost backed out. While others I knew who were participating had plans, and outlines, I didn't even have an
idea. So, when I sat down at my computer on November 1st, I just opened a blank document and started typing. I wrote the first chapter of Songbird that day.

The rest of November sped by, and I wrote pretty much a chapter a day. A few times, I would write ideas down throughout my regular work day, but mostly I sat at that empty screen and just wrote as it came to me. By the end of the month, I had thirty chapters of Songbird done. The last five chapters took another
three months to complete, primarily because I wasn't sure how I wanted Dani's story to end. I felt a lot of pressure to build up certain aspects of the story and get the word count up. Finally, I just put all of that aside and focused on what Dani was going through, had already experienced and where she needed to go. I
was done by the summer of 2010.

In February 2011, I decided to self-publish. It was a hard decision, but I don't regret it. I spoke about my decision on a writer's workshop I participate in and was then approached by two other members who were starting up Little Prince Publishing, an independent publisher. They asked if I would be interested in
publishing with them. I jumped at the chance.

I love working with Little Prince Publishing. It is very similar to self-publishing in that I have complete control and responsibility for my book, but they are there to support me in getting the book up and out there and to assist me with marketing.

The past five months have been spent revising, editing, formatting, and more recently, marketing. Marketing is by far the hardest part. The cover and book trailer were fun, but there were a lot of elements to them, and the other marketing ideas I've been working on, that I had never realized.

I'd always thought that writing 'The End' really was the end, or at least it was after revisions and edits. but I don't think Songbird will ever be done for me. There will always be more I can do to find Dani's audience and get her story out there.