Celebrate your wins, big or small. Finish a chapter? Celebrate. Get 50 words down on the page? Shout it from the rooftops. Finally typed “The End” on your manuscript? You get the point. Don’t wait until you get an agent or publish a book to toast all the hard work you’ve done to get there.

In 2019 I typed down a rough idea for a romance novel in my Notes app.

After sitting on my manuscript for months, I’ve only recently taken the next step in the long, winding journey for anyone hoping to have their book traditionally published: querying literary agents.