The Writing Career...

Happy Wednesday All,

I hope everyone is doing well this March and enjoyed/enjoying their

Spring Break. We've had some sun and some rain, some cold and some warm weather. Basically, I think our weather has some kind of indecision problem. Either that, or it got into someone's liquor cabinet and is completely drunk. I'll let you decide which scenario best fits.

There's a couple of blog-related things coming up that should be fun, I've got 2 official blog book reviews in the works. One I'm planning to post next week, and one I'm going to post as soon as I can (I'm currently reading the novel).

On the writing front, I got the critiques back on one of my WIPs and I'll be working on that. I'm awaiting first round edits for book 1 in my Immortal Dreams Trilogy. I'm also waiting on cover art (I've already turned in the forms for all 3 books--each book will be released separately, though).

By the way, Immortal Dreams Book 1: Divine Love has a release date!  My publisher and me are looking at June 18th of this year for Book 1 to be released. As with All's Fair In Love & Lion, the novel will first be released to Amazon Kindle, then somewhere around 6-9 months later will go into print form.

As soon as I have a date for the print version of All's Fair In Love & Lion I'll announce that. At the moment, the only thing I know is that my publisher thought it would be sometime in April.  (Several people have asked me about the print version, and I'm looking forward to it being available to those who want--plus it'll be fun to have a "hard copy" of the novel!)

Funny thing I've encountered as a writer is how many people say to me "I could NEVER do what you do."  The thing is, anyone who can string together a coherent sentence can write. The question is, do you have the passion, drive, and determination to do this? Can you face endless hours of editing? What about rejection? Rejection hurts--even when it's a "good" rejection, even when you learn from it, it's hard to hear "This isn't right for us." 

It is a tough job. But it's one of the most fascinating things I've done in my life. There's something so freeing about letting my imagination run where it will. Whether I'm contemplating the next book, or the next scene, or how to fix something, it gives my imagination a chance to do exactly what it likes to do--create and image.


I guess I don't consider it especially difficult (there are difficult days, but the writing career itself is what I mean) because it's something I do every day (even if I'm not physically writing, I'm thinking about it). It's something I've pretty much done most of my life. 

In the end, it's a matter of perspective. What others view as "impossible" I think "Why not?" and the things I think "I don't have the patience for that." other people are like "Oh, it's no big deal." Everything depends on what your talents are and what you're passionate about.

If writing is something you're into, keep the passion brightly lit. Stay determined. And as so many other authors say:  "Don't give up." The minute you give up, is the minute you quit being a writer/author.

Happy reading and writing everybody. :-)

Have A Wonderfully Whimsical Day!

Question Of The Day

Happy Thursday One And All,

An interesting question came up in an interview I was reading earlier today (interview was debuting author, Robin Badillo). It was: "When did you first consider yourself a writer?"

The terms author and writer can mean different things to people, depending on who you are.

For me, author and writer are generally the same thing. An author usually writes in some way (whether it's through words, pictures or music) and a writer writes things.

So if published and aspiring writers/authors are writing with words (or pictures/music) when do you consider yourself one?

I think when I got serious about writing is when I started considering myself a writer/author. I mean, I played around with it for years. Everything from lyrics to poetry to essays, then finally, as I got into high school and adulthood, novels. I had story ideas even before high school, but I didn't get serious about it until I got older.

But truly considering myself a writer and author happened when I finally decided I was going to write, query, and hopefully one day, publish. That's when I really figured I was a writer.

So what about you? When did/do you consider yourself a writer and/or author?

Have A Thrilling Thursday!

You Might Be A Writer If...

I've already posted the official Wednesday post, but this came to me, so...

In the grand tradition of Jeff Foxworthy...

You might be a fiction writer if...

-Fictional characters "talk" to you

-You think in terms of 'what if' rather than 'this is'

-books are like air to you and without them you'd die from lack of oxygen

-you're willing to throw yourself into an industry that may or may not render a good paycheck simply because you love what you do

-you can't stop stories and ideas from popping into your head...even when you're asleep

-rejection letter has a bittersweet connotation for you

-POV, GMC, CPs, and other acronyms are part of your every day vocabulary (and anybody outside the writing world has no idea what you're saying)

-Your computer/notebook/pen/pencil are extensions of yourself

-your power goes out and you're crippled

-you know exactly what a person means when they say "fleshing out" something

-You stare longingly at the bookstore shelves imagining your story sitting there with a gorgeous cover

-You actually offer advice to someone else even though you're writing the same genre (Todd Stone once pointed out that the writing industry is the only one he knew of that would help each other while competing with each other).

-People think you might be a little eccentric--but who cares, it works for you

-you have Nathan Bransford and Janet Reid and/or other agents/publisher blogs bookmarked

-you talk about characters as if they were real people

-when someone says there's nothing to writing you're convinced they've never tried it

You all have any? Share them in the comment section!

Have A Great Day!