"Drawing on her decades of experience at the top of the New York publishing game and then with her boutique editorial, ghostwriting, and book coaching firm, Betsy illuminates the emotional path of the writer's life. This smart, honest, sympathetic, and real-world guide will be essential for every writer's nightstand." -Janet Goldstein, former editorial director at HarperCollins and Penguin RandomHouse Many people dream of writing a book, but precious few succeed. Inspiration can strike one day so that it seems the muses are singing about the promise of your glorious brainchild! But when negative emotions creep in, they can make you shrivel up in fear and shame, and you want to light your manuscript on fire, burn sage, and stomp out any cinder of its pitiful life. No one is immune to feeling queasy at any point in the loop de loops of book publishing, whether it's not knowing where to start, trying to find time for writing in your busy life, or overcoming the angst in showing your work to friends and querying agents. Next is the death spiral of anxiety before your book comes out: Cue the fear that people will find your book weird, terrible, and riddled with bad writing. Your guide to managing these unruly emotions-before they put an end to your dreams-is editor and author Betsy Thorpe. For more than three decades, she's coached and held the hands of best-selling authors at major traditional publishing houses and also those of indie writers. In this book, she's here to help cheer you on to the finish line too. Writers, buckle in to tackle all those self-sabotaging feelings and embrace the truly positive ones. It's time to move you from tortured, angsty artist to a euphoric published author. "Like the iconic Inside Out movies that explore the emotions of kids and tweens, Betsy brilliantly addresses the emotions of writers-those fierce feelings that can hijack you at every stage of the creative and publishing process. Drawing on her decades of experience at the top of the New York publishing game and then with her boutique editorial, ghostwriting, and book coaching firm, Betsy illuminates the emotional path of the writer's life. This smart, honest, sympathetic, and real-world guide will be essential for every writer's nightstand." -Janet Goldstein, former editorial director at HarperCollins and Penguin RandomHouse, renowned publishing stregist, and coauthor of It's Not About the Coffee "From confronting the blank page to publishing those pages, let Betsy Thorpe be your trusty guide. Her deep wisdom, clear insights, and practical lessons will benefit the wannabe writer, the experienced writer, and every writer in between. Betsy is the buddy every writer dreams of having-always there to shine a light on the way forward." -Judy Goldman, author, The Rest of Our Lives: A Memoir Betsy Thorpe has been working in book publishing for over thirty years. Her book publishing career began at Atheneum Books, where she worked for the publisher and editor in chief, Lee Goerner. From there, she worked at HarperCollins as an assistant editor under Janet Goldstein, then moved with her to Broadway Books at Random House. These two mentors were crucial to Betsy's success. Betsy became an editor at Macmillan Books before moving to John Wiley & Sons and ultimately leaving traditional book publishing to start Betsy Thorpe Literary Services.Ever since, Betsy has been editing, collaborating, and occasionally ghostwriting with numerous authors. Her cowritten books have appeared on the Today Show, on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and in The New York Times. She published her first novels-The Veil Between Worlds, The Veil of Time, and The Season of the Veil-under the pen name Hope Carolle.