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Ciera McElroy

@cierahmcelroy

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📙ATOMIC FAMILY (paperback out now)
🎬 film & TV marketing @cloverandbee_

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The best thing that happened to my writing career was not getting my dream book deal.

Because turns out, teenage me was not the best person to decide how my career should go.

This is something I have not shared before because it happened so long ago now…but hopefully it’s helpful for someone else in the query or submission trenches!

#writinglife #querying #bookstagram #historicalfiction taken in Sioux Falls, South Dakota by @cierahmcelroy

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17 days ago

💥 “Theirs is a Cold War marriage.”
 ATOMIC FAMILY is out in paperback October 7 with this stunning new cover.

We’re just five months out, which is wild to believe!! If you’d like to support this book and my work, here’s how you can help:

📚 Preorder a copy — Preorders are hugely important for authors and help bookstores & publishers plan ahead. (Support your local indie if you can!)

📌 Follow along for fall events & readings! I’ll be hosting launch events in Sioux Falls (where I’m moving this summer!) + touring South & North Carolina.

📖 Add it to your shelves on @goodreads or @the.storygraph

🏛 Request it at your library — libraries are amazing supporters of authors. Especially now, libraries need our love!

👯‍♀️ Pick it for your book club — there’s a guide on my website with retro cocktails 🍸 and discussion questions.

🎃 The book opens on Halloween night, 1961 — it’s the perfect October read for anyone who loves a little unease with their autumn. I sure do!

Thanks so much for reading, preordering, and sharing — I can’t wait to meet more of you this fall! ✌️⚛️

Cover by: @ez.bookdesign by @cierahmcelroy

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a year ago

So much of what I know in this business, I learned from this powerhouse right here. We were running around like crazy in Dallas this week, but you always make work magical @moniquesondag! taken in Dallas, Texas by @cierahmcelroy

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14 hours ago

This is what I’m telling myself in this season.

For a long time, I believed the “if you build it, they will come” myth.

But opportunities are not just handed out! (Or if so, incredibly rarely.) It’s not enough to have talent and commitment, you have to have the drive to put yourself out there. To go after what you want…which is hard but so important if you want to manifest your career.

So if you need to hear this today, let me be the one to tell you that you don’t need anyone’s permission to chase your dreams! It’s okay to have scary big ambitions. I hope you do! I hope we all do.

What are yours?? taken in Dallas, Texas by @cierahmcelroy

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4 days ago

Should I turn this into a screenplay? 👀

Idk guys, but I am still pretty obsessed with this story! I want to see it out in the world. But…even if that never happens, I still had some incredible life experiences from it.

#kerouac #fiction #writersofinstagram #writinginspo by @cierahmcelroy

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6 days ago

Life lately. 🎃🌻 From weekends at home to writing fiction late at night!

Trust me, she’s adorable - but I also try to keep my kiddos offline! Petra was so excited to help me style the porch this year. Most of the plants were from my summer garden, we just added discount mums and pumpkins from the patch. Plus our ghost family the kids named Ghosty & Posty. 👻

Solo writing date. Highly recommend.

Ernest’s permanent spot in my office. I should use him more.

A highlight of my summer: my raised bed garden. Took in what is probably my last harvest!

This bag lives rent free in my head.

From before we sold out at the South Dakota Book Festival!

They like fast cars.

And the next few slides are photos Foster took on our @campsnapcamera which I’m obsessed with ➡️➡️➡️

Self portrait.

Our house.

Me apparently! taken in Sioux Falls, South Dakota by @cierahmcelroy

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8 days ago

Never done a vlog like this before but idk, it was kinda fun?

These days, mornings start with school drop off and then I can do my little writerly rituals like…

1) Light incense or a candle

2) Do morning pages (I am not super diligent about this but try to)

3) Read a few pages - currently in Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s new book and also reading a novel by Jill Ciment and Amy Hempel

4) Got dressed in my new favorite jeans I upcycled with a patch from @redhat.creative

5) Started in on social media work — checked our calendars and made sure scheduled posts were running, etc.

Let me know if you like this kind of content??

#diml #bookstagram #writersofinstagram taken in Sioux Falls, South Dakota by @cierahmcelroy

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11 days ago

I swear, if you do #3 there would be trouble 💀

In honor of spooky season, sharing some things today that would really freak me out. Ha!

I’m Ciera, and I share all about writing & working in entertainment. For the sake of all writers’ safety and sanity, please do not do anything on this list, K thanks. Bye. ✌️

#writingcommunity #writerinspo #writinglife taken in Sioux Falls, South Dakota by @cierahmcelroy

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11 days ago

Turns out the secret to feeling like a “real writer” was not a book deal, a byline, a screenwriting credit, or seeing my name on a hardcover.

Which is deeply inconvenient, because I spent approximately 20 years believing otherwise. 🫠

If you’re building a creative life in the margins (between work, kids, rejection, deadlines, and the rest of your actual life like, ya know, hobbies and sleep) I talk about that here.

Follow for more on making books & films in the margins of work & motherhood

#writinglife #writinginspo #novelist #queryingauthor by @cierahmcelroy

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13 days ago

I wish I had started this with my very first stop on book tour, but never too late.

I’m sharing my absolute favorite way to turn your book into a memory keepsake.

(@jryanstradal I am pretty sure I got this idea from you?) Anyhoo! If you’re a writer, drop a comment and let me know how you document and preserve your events! by @cierahmcelroy

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14 days ago

Incredible night in Nashville celebrating #SafeForTheWholeFamily! Can’t wait for you all to see this incredible documentary. Up next… @vafilmfest! by @cierahmcelroy

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21 days ago

time for the weirdrobe 🦎recently my algorithm has been full of color & dopamine dressing. I am so here for it because I made these pants! Who’s ready for a fall of whimsy and joy?

It may be giving grandma core, and you know what, I’m ok with that.

Wearing @terrashepherdboutique and thrifted @eddiebauer

#sustainablefashion #diy #upcycling by @cierahmcelroy

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a month ago