Yeah.
You read that correctly. He followed me on Twitter over the summer, after listening to Neil and Nat and I discuss his novel IT on Neil’s podcast Talking Scared which was of course thrilling.
And now, he wants to read my book which is just….unreal
I literally fell over when I saw it. And then things got more crazy. I dm’d him to thank him for the kind words and never expected a reply and then his showed up in my inbox
Needless to say, he’s excited about my middle grade book. So yeah, it’s been a wild time. And once I was able to shelve my imposter syndrome (now convinced that if he does read it he’s going to be so dissapointed) and use this as encouragement to finish this draft.
Trust me, nothing keeps you typing like knowing Stephen King wants YOUR book.
And I did finish it. This was probably the hardest book I have ever written. Writing a book about grief while grieving on DEADLINE was a lot more pressure than I was prepared for. But you know what? In the end, I think it might be my best first draft ever. I changed very little in edits before sending it to my beta readers. So with fingers crossed we’ll see what they think. Still writing The End felt good.
In addition there was chatter on twitter about how people who work full time find time to write and I shared my schedule.
Some people responded saying they were going to start getting up early to write, inspired by my schedule which was really flattering and I can’t wait read all the new books that will come out of that.
But, you also need rest. The story isn’t going to leave you. Creativity needs down time too. It also needs time away from the keyboard. I’ve solved every plot hole I have ever had on that 5 mile walk to work.
So it’s time for that now. I’m taking off the next two weeks, catching up on some sleep and then when I come back from vacation, it’s time to return to the WITCH BOOK which is very close to being done but was shelved so I could draft BROKEN DOLLS.
That’s my advice to all of you. Make time for writing. But also make time for rest.
Peace, love and starbursts,
Ally
Ally Malinenko 
🙂 🙂