Publishing ‘The Galvin Girls’: Confessions of a First-Time Author

I’m staring at the 1940s typewriter sitting in my closet that my friends gifted me for my 20th birthday. It’s after midnight on the eve of my book launch day. I haven’t been this nervous since I walked into my first college class. The typewriter doesn’t make me feel any better. It heightens the imposter syndrome I learned to ignore the last several months.

Your book isn’t good enough. You didn’t do your family justice. You’re not a real author if you didn’t publish traditionally. No one will publish your next book.

These are the thoughts going through my head as I sit here and type. I suspect my fellow authors at New Degree Press who will also launch their books this week may have similar doubts. It’s scary to put a piece of yourself out into the world and let others judge it. I have gone through cycles of loving and hating what I write, putting it on a pedestal and deleting entire chapters.

Writing a book is hard. It forces you to sit down in a silent room and listen to your voice for hours on end. For the longest time, I didn’t trust my voice. I am 23 years old with no fiction published prior to The Galvin Girls. My self-critical thoughts echoed in my mind as my fingers refused to move on the keyboard day after day.

I’ve learned there is a stigma with deviating from the well-worn path to publishing a book. Typically, an author spends years drafting a novel, sending it to publishers and/or literary agents only to be rejected time after time. Eventually, if an author is lucky enough, the novel will be accepted to a prestigious publisher like an Ivy League university. For a young fiction author, that is a one in a million chance. But it’s still the expected path to be taken.

I didn’t choose that path. I took a chance with New Degree Press, a hybrid publisher that allows me to retain my creative rights and be part of a community of authors all taking the same path as me. I’ve worked with dedicated editors, learned about the inner workings of the publishing world, and connected with some of the most passionate creators, including one from my hometown. I’ve had former instructors tell me I’ve taken the wrong path — and maybe I have — but I decided after my grandfather died in October 2019 that I didn’t have years to write this book. I only had now.

Finishing my last quarter at Stanford at home was a blessing in disguise. The solitude allowed me to focus on learning to craft characters, explore story arcs, and research 1920s history more than I ever could have in a normal senior spring. I suspect there would never be a time in the future when I would’ve given this novel the same amount of attention.

The Galvin Girls may have begun as a passion project years ago, but today I see it as my step out into the world as a writer. I am taking my place among all other authors who have doubted their ability to create something worth sharing. I know I am young. I know I am still developing my voice. I know I will make mistakes. But I also know I am resilient and brave and passionate.

If you decide to take a chance on The Galvin Girls, I hope that it makes you laugh, smile, and call your loved ones. I did all three while writing it.