Magnolia Fay Writes

Musings from November 2025 published very late

Well, okay, that was the 15th of October, so it’s been more than a month now, but it did take me a while to come around with the fact that it was real, and also, we were travelling and came back the day before publication, so the weeks after were spent in a whirlwind of getting back into the rhythm and getting over the jet lag.

So here I am, after this long-winded justification that nobody asked for, finally taking stock after a month of finally being an indie published author! Not that the anthologies I participated in didn’t count, but there is something different in taking one book, one story, through every single stage of the process. For this reason, and in order to combat my long standing tendency to neglect celebrating milestones, here’s a list of memorable moments from this first month as an official author:

• The moment it really hit me, aka when I opened my reports page, and it showed orders! People were ordering my book! Real people! (Mostly friends and family, but still!)
  
• The moment my cousin shared a video on the family chat flipping the pages of the book. It was the first time I saw it printed, before I could even receive my author copies!
  
• The moment I saw the first reviews on the Kindle store, the cover I had made myself on Canva with the little stars next to it.
  
• The moment I decided I needed to do something to feel the sense of achievement, and my husband organised me a little launch event at our favourite board game café.
  
• Getting closer to the event, I had this irrational fear that nobody would turn up. Instead, about twenty people came, and a few even got me gifts and flowers and asked me to sign their copy! And we gave out a few copies in a raffle, which was fun, and something I am definitely doing again.
  
• During the launch event, reading part of the first chapter, and people clapping and cheering. A memory I’ll be keeping in the vault for slumpy days.

Eventually, I hope my books reach a readership that doesn’t know me personally. However, knowing so many people in my life support me and want to see me succeed, and are even willing to invest their time and resources to help me towards my goal is a priceless, warm feeling. That is so necessary when motivation is a scarce resource, as it can be in the day-to-day of this often solitary endeavour.

In this regard, the last month has not always been easy. First, my mind decided that since we were done with our first book, that meant:

1. We were entirely done with that book, so why was I trying to garner motivation to promote it?
   
2. We were done with writing books as a whole, so why would I want to focus on other projects?

In the end, what helped me was the oldest trick in the book: time.

Little by little, I managed to get back into a writing groove. I am now working on a novel in a completely different genre, and excited to see where that leads me. Marketing The Sylvester is still a bit of a challenge for me, mainly because social media (ugh!), but I’ll get back into that too. Gradually.

I had to end with a shameless plug obviously!

Jokes aside, I’m grateful to everyone who’s followed my journey so far. Hopefully despite the hurdles of life, this will just be the first book of many.

Meanwhile, happy readings!

Magnolia Fay