I'm an author?! | Insta-update 6

Welcome to the fifth instalment of my insta-updates! In case you missed the last one, this is a time where I update what I’ve been up to by sharing what I’ve been doing on Instagram! I find it fun, and I’ve always hated the boring posts that are just long essays of “what I’ve been up to” from bloggers. So I’m throwing in some pictures to make it more interesting!

Many of you have noticed that I haven’t been quite so active in the blogging realm recently, so I thought I’d give you all an update as to what I’ve been up to!

I have been insanely busy. I know, we all feel that way, but in April I was working on my honours thesis and school, I went on a grad trip with my ex-roommates and my sister, and then I started my first legitimate career this summer writing a book.

Yes, you heard that right. I’m an author! Like an honest-to-goodness author with a book contract with an actual publishing house and everything!

Here’s how it happened. And it’s kind of like a blogger fairytale. Two years ago, I wrote this blog post for my mom as a guest blogger about why I didn’t rebel as a teenager. And it went viral. It was read by over a quarter of a million people in less than three weeks, I started getting e-mails from all over the world, did a live radio interview on the topic, all the while it was still getting shared and read. The numbers now, two years later, are astounding. I am still blown away by how many people read that little post I wrote in about 20 minutes while I was just bored out of my mind in a stats class.

Anyway, my mom and I got thinking and the next summer we wrote it up into a book proposal on the same topic–why I didn’t rebel. I got an amazing agent, and he pitched it to publishers for me. Only two few months later, HarperCollins gave me a contract and I accepted!

So where am I now? I have to write an entire book by October 1. Which is quite a feat, and one that most of the time I’m just super pumped for but a lot of the time I start to feel kind of stressed over, understandably. It’s been an amazing experience so far–I’ve interviewed tons of kids who did or didn’t rebel, talked to some experts in parenting psychology, and spent my days at home with my husband as he does online school this summer and I write my book. It’s been a great experience, and I’m excited for the rest of the summer! I’ll keep you all updated as to how it’s going, and I’ll start doing a bit of promo work for it in the fall once the chapters are finished.

We also moved in May, which was a huge relief. We were in a pretty rough neighbourhood before (a stabbing happened right outside of our apartments door and we were locked in for 8 hours because we couldn’t contaminate the evidence), plus it was very very hot in the summer. Last summer, our first summer married, we were so hot we started sleeping with three or four ice packs each. This new place is in a basement of a house and it is the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. We’re in love–I have my first full-sized kitchen, we have an office, and our room is big enough to fit more than just a bed. I even have a dining room table!

Overall, this summer so far has been a summer of change. Just the last month, my life has changed so much–some changes were welcome, some were bittersweet. One of the less fun changes is that since we’ve all graduated, Natasha and Hillary–two of my best friends (they were in my wedding party)–moved away from Ottawa. As a final “hoorah” as the JC girls, we all went to NYC for a grad trip. We also brought my sister Katie, even though she didn’t graduate. Here are some of the highlights:

We got to see the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway! And got super dressed up, even though it rained and we had to run through the pouring rain in our dresses and heels for about 5 blocks from where we had dinner. #worthit.

It’s seriously so weird that we’re not all going to be in Ottawa anymore–these girls have been a real blessing to me over the last three years and it’s so bittersweet to see everyone move on to the next stage in our lives.

Of course, pretzels in Times Square was a must. To be honest, I found Times Square not nearly as exciting as I thought it would be. My favourite parts were the Met, Broadway, and Central Park–not so much the flashy lights of Times Square. It just seemed a bit like Toronto but with more advertising to me. But hey–I like quiet things, so maybe I’m not the best one to ask.

Overall, it’s been an amazing two months. My honours thesis is finished. I never have to look at it again. I’ve only got one course in between me and graduating, and I’m going to be halfway done by the end of next week. I’m doing work that I love everyday alongside the man of my dreams. So blogging is taking a bit of a backseat for now–I’ll be posting over the summer, but not as frequently since most of my writing energy is being channeled into the book right now. But I’m still active on social media, so make sure to follow me and tweet me sometimes if you just want to chat!

I really miss all of you guys. I’m not just saying that, either. I miss interacting with you on a daily basis, and hearing what you’re all up to. I’ve been keeping up with your blogs, but for my readers that I talk to who don’t blog–I’m looking forward to being back here so we can chat again.