Approx 5-6-minute read
It took just under two years to write State of Unrest, but, of course, it’s not quite that simple. There are long writing sprints, pockets of productivity, detours into vast and refined edits, learning marketing and advertising then putting it into practice, website building, graphics tinkering, and more.
If you’re curious about what goes on between starting a book and putting it out into the world, especially as an independent author, here’s a rough timeline of how I got from a vague idea to a finished novel.
5th July 2023 – Planning begins
Planning officially started in early July 2023. That was the stage of note-taking, world-building, mulling things over on walks, and starting to form a shape of what this book might be. I didn’t do a full outline — some writers are architects who plan every beat of their novel; others are gardeners who plant a few seeds and tame what grows. There is always a balance between the two, but if I had to say I was one here, it would undoubtedly be the gardener.
There’s more to say about writing styles — and what I’d do differently if I were starting again — but that’s probably a topic for another article.
12th July 2023 – The ‘First Draft’ begins
I started the document titled “First Draft” on 12th July 2023 — but that name needs an asterisk. In reality, I wrote the first ten chapters, realised I was already improving as a writer, and circled back to rewrite them before continuing. This cycle of revision and progression continued until I had completed the first full draft.
2nd March 2024 – First 20 chapters finished
Fast forward a bit, and by early March 2024, I had finished the first full draft of Chapters 1–20. It was rough, overwritten, structurally questionable, the characters were imperfect (not in a good way), and some of the relationships were bizarre. But it existed, and that was ecstasy.
5th March 2024 – First chapters sent out to Beta Readers
Just a few days later, I sent the first five chapters to some brave souls: my beta readers. These were three trusted readers — people I knew would give honest feedback while also understanding it was an early draft. We did this in waves, five chapters at a time, and bless them for sticking with it because, looking back, those early sections were in a very rough state. But that feedback was invaluable. It gave me a clearer eye on what wasn’t working, where I was being too vague or too indulgent, and what threads were resonating. I mostly managed to avoid those two fearful words that strike terror into all writers and creatives, though their potential weight still hung heavy like the sword of Damocles: boring and cringey.
26th May 2024 – Sent to agents
After more revisions, I decided to query agents. If you read my earlier article on traditional publishing, you’ll know this isn’t a quick or casual process. I meticulously went through more than 50 agencies — some with up to 20 agents each — and individually reviewed each agent to find those who might be a good fit for my book. I then created customised submission packs and emails for 18 carefully selected agents.
This whole process took tens of hours, possibly up to 100 by the time I was done. Out of the 18, I got three rejections (only one with any personalisation), and the rest were radio silence. Not uncommon — I’ve spoken to people who’ve had over 60 rejections. However, even without understanding why it hadn’t captured interest, it led me down a further path of reflection and study.
August–September 2024 – The pivot to self-publishing
By the end of summer, I decided to shift to self-publishing. Not because I thought the book would suddenly sell thousands of copies this way, but because I wanted control. If the book was going to flop, it should be on my terms after I had tried to control all that I could — but I also believed it had a shot, and I didn’t want to wait another year or two on the off-chance an agent or publisher might eventually agree.
What followed was a very steep learning curve. Since making that decision, here’s just a taste of what I’ve been doing:
- Researching self-publishing (turns out there’s more to it than uploading a Word doc)
- Trialling editors and cover designers (some good, some less so)
- Learning to design my own covers
- Learning WordPress and building a website from scratch
- Setting up email systems, sales pages, reader magnets, automations — all the behind-the-scenes stuff that lets books reach people
- Learning marketing theory and trying to apply it to something as emotional and messy as a novel
- Learning and refining the art of writing and storytelling, then applying all of that in seemingly endless revisions
- Getting familiar with Amazon’s publishing platform and all its quirks
- Preparing for ARC (advance review copy) readers
That list is only scratching the surface — and the most difficult part has been the fact that every time I didn’t want to spend money, I had to spend time learning a whole new skill. Time that might’ve gone into writing book two. There have been challenges, but what made me know that writing was a passion, was that I simply couldn’t stop. I knew I had to bring it to fruition. I also knew it was an investment – things I won’t have to redo for every book.
Now (July 2025)
Right now, I’m preparing for the release of State of Unrest. It’s almost surreal — the book I started nearly two years ago is finally about to be in readers’ hands. There’s still a long road ahead: launch strategy, reviews, book two, and everything else, but I’m so excited to get it out there!
If you’ve followed along through these articles, thank you. If you’re considering writing a book of your own, I hope this gives you a real sense of what’s involved — not to scare you off, but to say: if I can do it, you absolutely can too.
And if you’re just here out of curiosity, I hope it’s been interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes. After all, most books don’t appear fully formed on a shelf — they start with someone staring at a blinking cursor, not entirely sure what they’re doing… but doing it anyway.
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