“I Can’t Believe You’re Not Published Yet!” #MFRWAuthors #1

Welcome to a new year, a whole new set of topics to cover!  This week’s asks the questions, ‘Why Do I Write?’  ‘What are my ultimate goals?’

First of all, if I couldn’t get these stories out of my head and down on paper, my head would explode.  At first, it was just for fun, and to see if I was capable of writing something longer than a twenty-page term paper, but something inside me became unleashed as I kept writing.

More stories demanded to be told.  Other characters decided to share their ‘lives’ with me.

Then one day I was happily scribbling away while my husband was in surgery, and a woman asked what I was writing.  I told her, and we had a wonderful chat.  I didn’t let her read any of it, since it was notebook #3 of one story, plus I could barely decipher my own handwriting!  But she seemed interested, and it encouraged me to keep at it.  Three years later, I finally let a new acquaintance read one of my stories, and she passed it along to another friend.  They both expressed their astonishment at the fact I wasn’t published yet, so the wheels began to turn.

It’s one thing to have close friends love your work, but complete strangers, whom you’ve barely known a few weeks?  I bought my first Guide To Publishing book, found out about an upcoming workshop in my area, and signed up.

At first, I wanted to publish just to see my name on a book.  But then people, even complete strangers, bought my 1st baby and raved over it.  So I decided to do it again….and again…and my simple desire to see my name in print morphed into a desire to make a success of this publishing thing.  I knew I wasn’t going to be a ‘flash in the pan’ author, one who quickly rises to the top of everyone’s ‘radar’ but then fades a year or two later.  No, I wanted a slow and steady climb up that ladder of success.

I just didn’t expect to creep along at a snail’s pace.  Oh sure, there were some hurdles….publishers folding, KU killing the small press, then tweaking their algorithm, hackers figuring out how to cheat the system.  But it’s now ten years later and I’m still here.  Book #25 arrives in a few short months, plus I have four partials to finish.

It would be nice to hit the NY Times Best Seller list, but for now I’m content with my few awards, a growing number of repeat customers, and the fact I’m continuing to learn this ‘publishing thang’.

Want to know what others think? 

Happy New Year!

Update On Mom:

She’s now been in the rehab facility for 2 weeks, and is getting stronger!  She spends 20 minutes per day on the stationary bike, plus told me she’s walking longer lengths every day.  Her spirits are good, and she’s even begun hosting a small Bible Study with another lady who has missed being in the company of Christian Fellowship!  God works in mysterious ways:)

In other family news, both my parents’ vehicles need work; the ‘check engine’ light is on, and Dad has hooked them both up to his Code detector (I don’t know what you call it!), and thought he’d fixed the issue, only to have the light return the next day.  So he’s going to consult a mechanic…..and the one he’s trusted for years went out of business last year.