Welcome to my LiveJournal!

Just kidding. Sort of.

Hello!

Ok so I know this isn’t like LiveJournal or Tumblr or (let’s really go back) Xanga, but it kind of has the same vibe, right? Tumblr for grown-ups?

The truth is, after a year of writing my first novel and a month of writing 50 thousand garbage words towards my second novel, I’m hoping to build a community around my writing. Despite being in the community building business for the last 10 years as the owner of music PR and marketing agency MP Co (formerly Muddy Paw PR) this feels a million times more difficult.

Publishing, from everything I can tell, is brutal right now. You always had to have a good book to get the attention of an agent or an editor, but now it has to be stellar. There is no “I love it but it needs a few things worked out first” or “let’s do this together.” Instead, we have “Is it perfect? Can I sell it quickly?”

As a business owner, I get it. As a writer, it’s discouraging.

My first novel is something I am SO proud of. It’s something I poured my whole heart and soul into and I am confident it will get published. But the version of me that went into this thinking it would be a quick process has very quickly been humbled. It will probably be years before that book ever lines the shelves at my favorite bookstores, or reaches the hands of new readers.

So, while I work on my second novel (an equally humbling process), Substack felt like a good way to connect with others on their own journey, whether as writers or not. It’s also a great way to give myself an outlet that doesn’t involve a million hours of editing and slamming my head against my desk when I can’t think of the perfect word or sentence structure.

If you’ve read anything from me in the past, it might have been one of my music industry guest blogs on Soundfly, Bandzoogle, Hypebot, or countless others. Maybe you saw me speak at SXSW or CD Baby Music Conference or CMW. Maybe we’re friends in real life. (Hi!) If so, thank you. Sincerely.

I might discuss music here, it’s been my life for over a decade. But more likely than not, it will be the messy realities of writing, of being 35 years old and still having so much to figure out, of being happy and yeah, still a little angsty, of every beautiful and painful thing that comes through life.

I imagine much of this will be related to writing because it is such a central part of my life right now, but I hope even if you aren’t a writer or interested in the madness of the craft that you’ll still find a message in here that resonates with you. That makes you feel seen, or less alone, or maybe even inspired.

If you’ve ever read my writing, thank you. If you’d like to keep reading it, that would mean a lot. Thanks for getting this far. I hope we’ll be friends.

xoxo,

Gossip Girl

(just kidding)

<3 Angela