My struggle with Comparisonitis

Co-authoring hurdles, finding my voice and path in the author world - twice.

Please note: the below is a reflection on my early writing journey with a writing partner, and while I speak to my experiences and challenges, they are my own. I am not speaking on my partner’s behalf.

I remember how terrified and excited I was when I decided to self-publish a book. I even had a writing and business partner and still it was scary as hell. Yes, it was amazing to start our journey together, to share our fears and celebrate our successes together. But it gets messy when you’re learning who you are alongside someone else. Their learning becomes yours. You adapt together, rely on each other, and all you do is intertwined. For the sake of this piece, I’m going to refer to us as Team Lindsey (since we’re both Lindseys).

To start with, we didn’t know what the hell we were doing in 2011-2012 when we took on the publishing world. eReaders were barely a thing, self-publishing was looked down upon, the tools and resources to do any of it were lacking, and what was out there was cumbersome and confusing. But Team Lindsey embarked on the adventure together.

As writing partners, we fed off each other in many ways, leaning into each other’s strengths and discovering our weaknesses together. In doing this, we could take on the writing world with far more courage and confidence than we would have otherwise. Hell, we might not have ever published a book if it hadn’t been for our love of reading, writing, and friendship.

But it wasn’t all peaches and cream.