Student Blog: My Book is Being Published!

My job of 'musical theater fan' comes second only to my job of being an author. When I'm not engrossing myself into Broadway shows, I'm writing, either editing a completed project or working on something new.

I've been spending the past few weeks focusing on marketing my debut novel, THE GOSSIP GAMES, which releases April 18th from SnowRidge Press! THE GOSSIP GAMES is a YA rom-com with the popular tropes of enemies to lovers, fake dating, and best friend's brother, and I might be a bit biased, but I think it's pretty good.

It's definitely a lot to juggle, being a full-time student while publishing a book. When I first started writing THE GOSSIP GAMES in 2020, I was still in high school. I had no idea what would come from a little story I began on a whim one day. Now, three years later, that 'little story' is going to be published in a few days.

If you want to learn more about my book, you can follow me online at @authoralliesarah, or check out my website, alliesarah.com. I'll be publishing the other two books in the series in 2024, and yes, book three follows a major Broadway fan (who turns his school play into a musical, as all theater kids do).

As with any large project, it's both exciting and nerve wracking that THE GOSSIP GAMES is almost out in the world. On one hand, I've been working on this book for three years! It's time for it to be published! But on the other side, my words will be out there for anyone to read. It's terrifying putting such an important part of you online and in print. But luckily the excitement outweighs the nerves, and now I just can't wait for Tuesday to arrive.

I don't know much about the process of creating a new musical, but I imagine the fundamentals are similar to writing a book (only with music). The creator/author writes a draft, edits the draft, edits more, and then goes in search of someone who can help bring their words/music to life. It's so easy to marvel over the finished version, not thinking about the years of hard work that was put in to create the polished, produced, published piece.

So, as an April challenge, take one finished piece of work that you admire. Maybe it's a book you loved, maybe it's the last show you saw. But take a second and think about all the creators who poured their heart and soul into it, and you'll find that you'll be able to appreciate it just a little bit more.