18 February 2021: The JUST FRIENDS Journey
Once upon a time, there was a girl who wrote a story and got an offer for it to be published on Galatea. Surprise! It's me.
Color me shocked, I've signed a contract and everything.
Rather than ramble about all the things I've been feeling and thinking about since the offer came up, I decided to give y'all a short timeline overview of Just Friends and the journey its undergone, because guess what? Everything takes time.
March 2015
First draft written for a fiction workshop class in college
Jasmine's name was originally Ivy Watson
In the original conception of the story, Ivy was asexual and Leo was aromantic, and the story was meant to be a Harry Potter fanfiction of Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy
February 2017
Story submitted to a school magazine, rejected
November 2018
Revision written for 2018 NaNoWriMo
Ivy's name changed to Jasmine and the circumstances of their story were changed to incorporate more tropes I enjoy
2019
Various revisions made, touching up the story
February 2020
Story posted to Inkitt and Wattpad
February 2021
One year later, the story has 90 reviews on Inkitt and a 4.7/5 star rating
Received an email offer to publish on Galatea (app is partnered with Inkitt)
Six years from the first conception of this story to where I am now, with a contract to publish the book on Galatea, where I'll earn royalties. Designers are also working on a cover for the book, based on my own vision!
It's still so surreal to think about. Just as I was thinking about taking the story down in order to work on self-publishing it, that's when Galatea approached me with this opportunity. I had no idea I was so close. I honestly thought it might take longer, but here we are.
All this to say, it takes as long as it takes, and things will work out when they're meant to. Don't give up.