When I got to campus fall 2024, I spent many nights at the desk in my tiny Campus View III dorm room, clacking away on my computer as I wrote a fictional story about pirates.
I took inspiration from my favorite action movies and combined the adventure with steep character dynamics that show the two main characters’ similar personalities in action, even as they fight on different sides of any given conflict.
On April 6, four weeks before my college graduation, I opened a package with my fully formatted, edited and complete novel, “Gold Coast,” releasing on Amazon April 24th.
If you told 18-year-old Rylee that she would be walking across the graduation stage with her self-published book in her hands, she would say that it was impossible and swear it would never happen.
I’ve always loved writing, but becoming a published author and pursuing that career always seemed far off. Three percent of writers actually finish novels they set out to write, and most people online agree that aspiring authors have a 1-2% chance of actually becoming traditionally published.
Even if a writer does get their book published, a traditionally published book, on average, sells only three thousand copies in its lifespan, which is not nearly enough to sustain a career.
In the wise words of “The Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins, the odds were not in my favor.
Those chances of success alone are enough to dissuade most rational people from spending years of tedious work crafting a story and characters that feel alive. They would certainly scare away any broke, starry-eyed college student who barely had the time to cook dinner.
Yet, here I am. It’s been one of the weirdest journeys of my life. The last year and a half of this writing process was nothing short of heart-wrenchingly difficult because of the time commitment and mental focus it took. I would not have done this without the lessons I learned about hard work, focus and being intentional with my time and energy.
After finishing the first draft April 2025, I spent every night editing. I’d write on my lunch breaks at my job because every other free moment was spent cranking out 12 summer credits for my degree.
I sent the manuscript to an editor by the time I got back to St. George in late August 2025, and I was so relieved to take a break from editing.
A week and a half later, my editor sent the draft right back and told me that I needed to do more self edits before she’d keep reading.
At that point, I was ready to quit. There were many times over that long summer of self-editing when I thought about putting this project on the back burner. There were many nights when I decided that I was going to quit writing, and I’d promise myself that I wouldn’t open my computer the next day to work on it.
But every morning, the first thing I thought about when I woke up was, “What do I get to write about today?”
It was a weird headspace to be in; I was mentally exhausted from school and work, but I quite literally could not stop writing, no matter how hard I tried. I was shackled to finishing this book, sometimes against my will.
This happened because no matter what I told myself, my heart refused to give up. The long hours of pushing through tedious school work prepared me for the long hours of writing and editing, and I knew that the only way past this challenge was to put my head down and plow straight through it.
It took me a little over a month to finish the self-edits my editor requested, and most of that happened past midnight due to my insanely busy fall schedule. It took four months for my editor and me to polish the draft (shoutout to my girl Lia for sticking with me), and it took another month to finish copyedits and other final touches. I started posting on social media to promote the book in January, polished the cover with my designer in February, formatted the book in March, and in April, I was holding it in my hands.
“Gold Coast” follows the story of pirate hunter Emery Walker as she is captured by Warren Chadwick, one of the world’s most feared pirates.
The plot follows the two as Warren works to tear down Emery’s reputation and image as a pirate hunter as revenge for her arresting his innocent errand boy.
The only thing that kept me motivated during the hard times was the love of fictional storytelling. When I was in the zone, the words practically flowed from my fingers, and it was so much fun. I loved writing fast-paced action sequences and the banter between Emery and Warren.
I loved pitting their clashing values and backgrounds against each other as they worked to sabotage the other’s plans, and no matter what I did to force the story out of my mind, it always seemed to linger.
I took that insistence as a sign to keep going even when I wanted to give up. When it was late at night, and I could barely keep my eyes open while editing, I tried to imagine how amazing it would feel to hold my book and have something to show for the time, tears and sleep that I sacrificed.
If I get nothing else out of this venture, I at least learned about the power of sacrifice and dedicating time to the things you want. I was intentional with every second of my day and learned how to slip in just a couple of minutes of writing before a class or between appointments at work.
Effort and intention were the reasons I was able to chase this dream during college, and effort and intention can carry you far if you keep your eyes on the prize.
I found a way to work through exhaustion and lack of motivation, and I’m proud to say that “Gold Coast” is now available to purchase on Amazon in e-book or paperback. I hope you fall in love with the characters and story just as much as I have.
If you want something, you have to go get it. You have to grit your teeth through the hard times and put intentional, focused effort into every moment of the journey. It might be difficult, but you’ll always come out a better person on the other side. It just takes one step at a time.
