Each year around the start of spring, I find myself making plans for the rest of the year. I value winter for the time indoors (i.e., without yard work), but it’s hard not to be excited when the daffodils appear and the weather warms. The year feels filled with promise.
Press (!)
In February, Michael Hilburn interviewed me for the Sourdough Podcast. We talked about sourdough science and myths, among other things. The episode is here:
https://www.thesourdoughpodcast.com/
episodes/2019/2/12/emily-buehler-author-of-bread-science
I also cohosted with Sarah Cypher the Editorial Freelancers Association’s February #EFAChat on Twitter, which was about self-publishing. The archive of the chat is here: https://wakelet.com/wake/8b24c9cd-7cc6-43f9-89af-7ddbe4c2f22a
This Year’s Events (So Far)
Due to some scheduling complications, I’m not teaching at the Asheville Bread Festival (April 13). It turns out I am able to attend, however, so look for me outdoors at the Bread Fair with a bread science booth. Learn more and sign up for classes: https://www.ashevillebreadfestival.com
I’m teaching Baking Traditional Breads at the Folk School in May, but I believe the class is already full. If you want to get on the wait list, you can do so here. Tentative dates for 2020 are April 26 to May 2, 2020 (Making Traditional Breads) and September 20 to 26, 2020 (The Science of Bread).
I’m giving my presentation on “old-fashioned self-publishing” at the Orange County Public Library on September 22 at 2 PM. The talk looks at self-publishing with as few intermediaries as possible as a starting point, and then discusses where and why an author might value an intermediary. I’m working to streamline the talk so it will be a little shorter than last time. The slides from last time are still available, here: https://emilybuehler.com/miscellany/how-to-guides/
In other news, I am hoping to attend both the Romance Writers of America conference in July and the Editorial Freelancers Association conference in August. (The writer conference is what I need right now, but last time I attended the editor conference, I felt so much like “These are my people!” that I’d hate to miss it.)
My Writing Career
I’ve got a new plan for my writing endeavors taped on the kitchen cabinet. What I’ve gathered from classes and reading is that to have a career as a writer, I need to produce a lot of books that are in one genre. Readers will expect consistency, and I don’t want to let them down. At first this concept seemed stifling, but I looked at my favorite authors. For example, I’ll read anything by Sarah Dessen because I know there will be a teenage girl protagonist struggling with family issues and figuring out where she belongs.
So my current situation is, I have three manuscripts in three different genres. I need to pick which genre to focus on—which genre I think I can produce more books in, and which manuscript I want to pitch to agents at the conference this summer. (I’m not opposed to self-publishing but am interested to give the traditional process a try.) I’m currently trying to read as much as possible, to figure out where my books fit in.
I’ve also become more clear-eyed about readers. Most Bread Science readers are not going to be interested in a bicycle trip memoir or women’s fiction. Even among women’s fiction readers, those who value one type of book may not be interested in another. Thinking about the inevitable one-star ratings and hateful reviews that every book gets on Goodreads made me imagine a book-sharing website where the ratings and reviews you see are from other readers who have the most “book overlap” with you, based on your own ratings. I blogged about this here: https://emilybuehler.com/2019/my-wish-for-goodreads/
I’m currently thinking about the themes and character growth that are likely to keep popping up in my books. It’s kind of a relief to realize that I don’t have to come up with a brand new theme each time—I only have so many major life lessons to share! I’m wondering how to convey these themes to reach readers who’ll appreciate them. Two related bog posts:
Tips about writing back cover copy that hooks the potential reader, from a webinar featuring Lee Silber, https://emilybuehler.com/2019/cover-copy-tips/
Considering the “inciting incident” that led to a misconception I held as an adult: the time in middle school when a boy made fun of me for going to the school dance, https://emilybuehler.com/2019/the-legacy-of-middle-school/
That’s probably enough news for now. It’s nice that spring keeps returning each year to bring the feeling of promise, even as life progresses steadily on.