Kicking off with some exciting news: I’ve officially finished writing Project Dice! I absolutely adore this story and hope I’ll be able to share so much more about it down the road.
Finishing a story is always bittersweet for me. I’m proud of what I’ve created and hopeful for where it might go next, but it’s hard saying goodbye to something that you’ve been so close to for months. The characters feel like friends, people I’ve spent countless hours getting to know, people who’ve kept me company on late nights spent writing and revising. And then you finish their story, and…you don’t know if you’ll revisit it, or when. It might not get picked up for publication. Every time I say goodbye, I hope it’s a “see you soon.”
Finishing Project Dice made me think of a phrase I heard early on in the writing community: “the book of my heart.” I saw writers often post about how this story was truly the book of their heart, the one that they felt closest to out of everything they’d ever written. Everyone’s allowed to feel however they feel about their work, but this oft-seen phrase actually scared me a bit, because…what if the story I was writing wasn’t the book of my heart? The one that meant more to me than every other, my greatest work?
What did that mean for book three, or four, or five? Or Project Dice, my sixth novel? If book three was the book of my heart, what did that mean for four or five? Had I already peaked? If I didn’t love a book as much, was it not any good?
This little thought slumbered away in my mind, poked every so often as I worried here and there about new book ideas. But as I continued writing more stories, I found my personal take on this phrase.
Every book I write is a book of my heart.
I have loved every story I’ve written, and I honestly cannot tell you which one I’ve loved most. My first book was a total mess that will never see the light of day, but my goodness, did that story teach me how to write. It taught me resilience. It taught me story craft. It taught me I loved writing beyond one story.
My second book, called Project Flare, is a story I still adore and hope to see in the world one day. I’d really started to hone my skill set with Flare, and I finally learned the ever-elusive voice, which took me years to figure out. I found many of my writing community friends during this time, the ones who have been my rock through the storms of this difficult adventure.
My third book, lovingly known as my gender-swapped reimagining of The Mummy, got me my agent. It taught me that I loved writing adventure stories, and it was the first time I’d written a dual-perspective story. It was also the first time I opened up more about myself in my work, bringing in parts of me that I’d kept hidden, namely chronic pain and anxiety. I learned about myself through those characters and their struggles, and I know they’ll be on shelves one day.
My fourth book, known as Project Midnight, is the story I needed when I was first going through testing and finally a diagnosis for fibromyalgia. The lead character deals with a version of it, and she feels the many tumultuous emotions I felt while figuring all of this out in my real life. It’s a story full of magic, and pain, and hope, and yes, handsome villains. And I wrote it when I needed to feel seen with an unseen illness.
My fifth book, called Project Drake, is an adventure story I wrote in 18 days last summer. I haven’t come back to it just yet as it shares themes with Mummy book, and it’s not quite the right market for it yet, I don’t think — but Drake let me explore more about my own mental health difficulties as I wrote about wild adventures and travels. It let me write characters full of whimsy and banter, characters who were tough as nails, who were fighters, even if they struggled with invisible difficulties.
And finally, Project Dice let me explore more themes about myself and delve even more into my mental health, showcasing my own very real, very lived experiences. It let me go back to an academy setting, something I hadn’t done since my very first book, and it let me explore darker themes than I ever had before. It let me write about the found family and complicated dynamics of friendship in a way that felt true to me, even in a fantastical way.
I love every story I have ever written — they are each a book of my heart in their own different ways. Because that’s the thing about love, isn’t it? Our capacity for love is endless. I have room for them all.
I can’t wait to see what the next book of my heart is.
Sending apple cider and cookies,
Valerie
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valerie c. norton 