Today’s guest blogger is by Margo Hammond, co-author of Between the Covers: The Book Babes’ Guide to a Woman’s Reading Pleasures.

The path to writing a book — and publishing it — for the first time is not the same for everyone. Selden Edwards, author of “The Little Book,” toiled more than three decades before landing a book contract: He began his novel in 1974 and then polished and refined it for 34 years before it was accepted for publication in 2007.  Randa Jarrar, the Arab-American author of “Map of Home” and Rachael King, the New Zealand author of “The Sound of Butterflies” may not have had to wait that long, but they, too, have tales to tell about how one word written down on a blank page (or computer screen) was transformed into a published book. These three first-time novelists, appearing on the First Books Panel at Wordstock, will talk about the often rocky challenges of that journey, the false starts and the aides they employed to push themselves to the finish line. As their moderator, I can relate: I will be publishing my first book, a book of book recommendations co-written with fellow book critic Ellen Heltzel, November 15. Ellen and I included many first books in “Between the Covers: The Book Babes’ Guide to a Woman’s Reading Pleasures” whose authors went on to write many more. Selden, Randa and Rachael, take notice: The next panel you’ll be on will be entitled: “The Challenges of the Second Novel.”