#whctb

It’s finally happening. It’s here. It’s today. I finally get to announce what I’ve been sitting on for the last year: I wrote a book! And you can buy it on the Internet!

It’s a novel about friendship and how your surroundings shape what it means to be friends, especially when the world as you knew it no longer exists. It’s a novel about fighting and who the enemy is when it seems like every city is a death trap waiting to take your life last and everything else about you--your sanity, your morals, your body--first. It’s a novel about finding yourself when the world ends before you turn fifteen and everything you know, every history book you’ve ever read or algebra problem you’ve ever solved, literally means nothing now. What it means to trust, what it means to survive, what it means to live in a world where there are no rules, not anymore.

Charlie Cross doesn’t know that’s she’s scared; she thinks she’s Fighting The Good Fight, thinks she has the upper hand over the rebels who have taken over not just the government, but every last great city of the once free world. The libraries, the grocery stores, the suburban cul-de-sacs all overrun by lawless, faithless “rebelutionaries.” She’s on the run from everyone, including herself. Learning about herself--who she is, what she values--drives the narrative and Charlie’s journey in search of how to find peace after chaos, how to find the concept of home.

Anyone who has known me over the years knows that it’s always been my goal to be a writer, not just in name but in practice. Guess what? I am one now. I’m a writer, and this is my first published novel. I’m writing under my pen name, Bailey South, for various Reasons, but mostly so that I can keep my private life exactly what it is, private. I’m sharing this with all of you here, but in order to spare your timelines, feeds, and dashboards of marketing and bookish clutter, I ask that interested parties follow my writing Twitter and Tumblr for the latest and greatest.

Thank you all so much for your support. I can hardly believe I’m typing this right now. I can’t believe that it’s not just a dream anymore.

Buy We Have Come to Burn on Amazon

Bailey South on Twitter

It’s finally happening. It’s here. It’s today. I finally get to announce what I’ve been sitting on for the last year: I wrote a book! And you can buy it on the Internet!

It’s a novel about friendship and how your surroundings shape what it means to be friends, especially when the world as you knew it no longer exists. It’s a novel about fighting and who the enemy is when it seems like every city is a death trap waiting to take your life last and everything else about you--your sanity, your morals, your body--first. It’s a novel about finding yourself when the world ends before you turn fifteen and everything you know, every history book you’ve ever read or algebra problem you’ve ever solved, literally means nothing now. What it means to trust, what it means to survive, what it means to live in a world where there are no rules, not anymore.

Charlie Cross doesn’t know that’s she’s scared; she thinks she’s Fighting The Good Fight, thinks she has the upper hand over the rebels who have taken over not just the government, but every last great city of the once free world. The libraries, the grocery stores, the suburban cul-de-sacs all overrun by lawless, faithless “rebelutionaries.” She’s on the run from everyone, including herself. Learning about herself--who she is, what she values--drives the narrative and Charlie’s journey in search of how to find peace after chaos, how to find the concept of home.

Anyone who has known me over the years knows that it’s always been my goal to be a writer, not just in name but in practice. Guess what? I am one now. I’m a writer, and this is my first published novel. I’m writing under my pen name, Bailey South, for various Reasons, but mostly so that I can keep my private life exactly what it is, private. 

Thank you all so much for your support. I can hardly believe I’m typing this right now. I can’t believe that it’s not just a dream anymore.

Buy We Have Come to Burn on Amazon

Bailey South on Twitter

A: Not anymore than you are, which means I guess everyone I know, including myself, is Charlie in some way.

Have been totally nuts. I pushed myself to finish reading my proof copy of We Have Come to Burn yesterday, knowing that file approval sometimes lags over the weekend. ‘Lo and behold, I woke up this morning to an email saying it was approved. I remember my finger hovering above the “publish” button and thinking, “THIS IS IT. This moment is what the last six months have led to.” The trial and error of designing a cover, the excruciating re-reading for the umpteenth time of the same 98,000+ words looking for bizarre page breaks and formatting. I have put in so much time, so much time. When I tell people at work that I have a second job, I don’t think they realize how serious the workload is. 

But it’s worth it. This feeling right now, the swelling joy, is worth it. It’s elation and euphoria and victory, in a way. I beat the odds, the ones telling me I would never publish, that I was just a writer in theory. I triumphed over the voice in my head that said, “No.” I said yes.

It’s not about sales. I didn’t write fanfiction for years because I was concerned about sales. It’s about reaching the people that need to hear it, who need to hear a voice that echoes the one they have in their heads telling them all the things they don’t think anyone else can relate to. They’re out there. They might not be working in literary agencies, because God knows it just takes one to be your novel’s champion, but I can’t feel this way, this strongly, alone. I thought I did before, and readers showed me I was wrong. It’s about audience, about connection. Communion.

It’s not the best book ever written. But it’s mine. I’m all wrapped up in its sentences and its ideology. I’m bled out on those pages, especially the ones that are the hardest to read (BEWARE CHAPTER ELEVEN). And I’m afraid of what people will think, when it comes down to it. What my mom will think. It’s honest in a way that will offend people. Catharsis does that. Imagination does that. Is this what being brave is? Offering up a paper and ink piece of your soul for not just your friends and family, but total strangers to read?

I guess we’ll see. I’m desperately trying NOT to watch the Amazon sales rank, but it shot up about 20,000 places while I was at the gym, and that blows my mind.