Amen to That!

I originally intended this to be a comment to Claire Ashgrove's blog on the business end of writing. As I wrote, I realized it had turned into a blog.

The first thing most people say to me when they find out I'm a published author is, "Oh, how fun. It must be nice to stay home all day and play." It's clear they've never tried to tell a story, work with goal, motivation, and conflict-- to create a riveting tale that will make an agent sit up and take notice. Or how about trying to balance writing time with family time, running all those errands people ask you to do because "You're home all day, right?".

The first word in an author's vocabulary needs to be NO. I learned that from my former critique partner, Shannon K. Butcher. This will preserve your sanity-- believe me on this.

The notion that an romance author sits on the couch with bon-bons to the side, while writing with a quill pen and parchment paper, seems to persist. They've never gone through revision hell.

Claire is right. The business end was a staggering revelation that still has this newbee perplexed and a bit overwhelmed. Somewhere in there, between edits and marketing, you have to work on the next book. Days that you used to spend eight hours in writing might turns into only three or four hours. Granted, there are those who have Super Sonic fingers and live on fumes-- I'm not naming names here, but I'm not one of them. It takes me a good two and a half to three months of solid writing to finish a book. So each hour taken away from my writing for the business end of the profession makes me have to work harder and become more focused. Maybe that's not a bad thing in the end.

I am just lucky to have several published authors who I can contact if I need advice. Thankfully, they leave bread crumbs along the way to guide me to the right paths.

Dyann Love Barr

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