The Millions

Lessons: The Less-Traveled Road to Getting a Book Published

After 20 years of writing, my first novel, Swapping Purples for Yellows, finally entered the world in August of 2019. The book took four years to write, another two to sell, and 18 months to edit and prepare for publication. Along the way, my daughter grew from a newborn into third-grader; my wife and I bought a new, bigger house to accommodate this addition to our family; and I went from being a stay-at-home father to a full-time college instructor. This book remained the one constant. Now that it has been released, I’ve begun reflecting on the experience of getting to this point—and even have what I hope is a little insight into the process. Here goes:

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