I first conceptualized The Lady Thief a-little before full lockdown at the height of the panini (COVID pandemic). It started out as a novella (around 27k words) if you can believe it. I was unsure about writing a full novel (it seemed like so much effort!) but I had fallen down the rabbit hole of P. Djeli Clark’s longer works and felt the urge to start typing.
It got rejected, quite a few times. I shared it with some family and friends who asked for more, so I buckled down. I think it was around 2021 when I completed a full length draft and I set it aside so I could look at it with fresh eyes later on.
I worked on it off and on until I decided to submit it as part of the We Need Diverse Books mentorship program on a whim. I figured, why not? Better to try, than to let submission deadlines keep passing me by because I was too afraid my manuscript wasn’t up to snuff. Lo and behold, I was selected as a 2023 YA mentee. The power of just trying, eh?
I worked with Author Victoria Lee to polish it up and entered the query trenches. 17 requests and rejections later, (“Love it, just dont know how to sell it!” “This is great, I just don’t have a vision for next steps.”) I considered whether it was time to just shelf my baby and start editing on some other pieces I had in my backlog.
But as I looked over the rejections earlier this year, I thought, “I believe in this story. Maybe I can sell this myself. At least, I can try instead of giving up.”
I’m so excited about the progress and the reception so far. Thank you for believing in me.
On character portraits:
Bella Bergolts did an amazing job creating an atmospheric fantasy portrait of my female main character, Selene. I’ve seen her work reposted a few times so I was over the moon to work with her. I’ll be posting this on my socials tomorrow — subscribers get first dibs of course 😀 Let me know what you think of it!
*Footnotes
My Royal Nemesis on Netflix has reawakened me from my K-Drama slump. It features a misunderstood villainess from the Joseon era clashing with a wealthy bad boy in the modern era. Lim Ji-yeon is incredibly expressive and hilarious, plus the plotline feels fresh!