There’s a reason why I write and it isn’t Kindle lists or Amazon rankings. I write Romance.
I write heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, pull your insides out stories with endings that will stay with you for weeks.
At least I used to.
We’ll all agree that the publishing industry is going through great change. When there is great change, there’s great uncertainty. There are no norm’s. Because of this, the buyers and sellers of books are falling back into the tried and true or they’re targeting untapped readership. Writer’s like myself are trying to accomodate. Don’t. It’s a trap.
Go back to your roots. Remember the reason you got into this crazy business in the first place. I’ll tell you mine.
It’s the story of two lovers who can never be together in the world and time period in which they meet. The hero takes the hand of his love. They can only touch. They will never know a night in each other’s arms. Yet their love is eternal. He says, “Through a thousand worlds and ten thousand lifetimes, I will find you. We will meet again. I promise you this.”
That’s why I write Romance.
That’s why I write.

HELLO, EVERYONE!! CHECK IT OUT!! MY GOOD FRIEND AND WRITING GURU, GWEN JONES, IS #14 AND #83 ON AMAZON LISTS!! AWESOME NEWS!!

Hard work, dedication to craft, hours and hours of revision. Being an author isn’t easy, but it certainly isn’t impossible. And there are rewards (after the chocolate and champagne). So keep going, keep writing, keep revising. And maybe you’ll find yourself right here, touting that your book has made all the lists.

What do you do when you’ve come to realize that a book you’ve poured your heart and soul into just isn’t going to sell? Do you give up?  Rewrite? Forget about it? Or forge ahead through the fire burning inside that says, this is a really good book and I don’t want to give up on it?

A book may be the book of your heart but publishing is a business and your work has
to  be commercial enough to sell. A lesson truly learned the hard way.  So what do
you do?
Give up.  Well I don’t know about you but those two words aren’t in my vocabulary.
Rewrite.  A viable option but when you’ve made this many rewrites, is it worth the time and effort?
Forget about it.  I’m reminded of these ancient Roman ruins and how they’ve withstood the test of time.  Something inside this book made me nurture it for too many years. Parts of this manuscript are original and have never been cut.  So no, the answer is don’t give up on it.  Refuse to forget about it.  And do….what?
Anyone worth their salt in this business will tell you editing is the key to success.  They’ll also tell
you about cutting out the cancer, the ‘bad’ parts.  So the next step is surgery, sharp conscise cutting to get at the parts that are good, that are commercial, that will sell.  Then onto therapy and the cure.  Knitting the pieces back together again, writing bridges and even new characters…whatever it takes to get an editor or agent to say, “I knew I liked this book.  Now I know why.”

Good Luck and if the process is painful, remember the reward is the finished product and a contract in your hand.

I made a decision when I began my blog that I would stick to the subject of writing. But for this post, I’d like to deviate from that rule just a bit. And with good reason. A very dear friend of mine passed away six months ago and I’d like to reprint my good-bye.
There are people in this world that bring out the best in others. Roseann Orme was one of those people. She managed this feat because she demanded no less of herself. A natural born leader, she was able to coax blood from a stone–she got me to do things I’d never done before and taught me how to believe in myself so that I ended up doing them well. Along the way, we shared the times of our lives together. I will miss her very much.
As authors, we have an obligation to dare.  And dare greatly.  As a writer, if you don’t try to test your limits, if you don’t try harder, if you don’t try something new, then how can you improve?
As authors, we have an obligation to bring others into our world. My greatest satisfaction is knowing that if someone is reading one of my books, I’ve taken them away from the stress of their lives and asked them to join me in my world for a few short moments.
For me, Ro did both. She asked me to dare greatly and showed me that I could do things I never thought possible. She brought me into her world and I am nothing but a better person for it. She touched not just mine but so many lives and made them better just as our writing should.
Thank you Ro, from the bottom of my heart and rest in peace.

A blog and website all in one.  This is definitely a new endeavor for me. Just as writing was when I began my first manuscript.  Trying new things, taking wrong turns, learning about what works and what doesn’t, these are all part of the process–of building a book or building a website.  I believe the idea is to not get frustrated, at least not too much, and to learn patience.

All right, the patience of a saint.  Don’t ever give up, for in the end, I think that you’ll find the result worth the effort. And the pain of the process healed by the delight of reading your work. Or in this case, seeing the screen light up with life.

In the coming weeks, I’m going to try something new, something that I think will tell me whether or not people are enjoying my writing.  I’m going to begin a story on line.  Maybe only one person will read it. But if that one person enjoys it, then I’ve done what I set out to do.

So keep checking. It’ll be worth the wait.