I turned the big 4-0 today

No, not my age, but the number of books I’ve sold.  It is such a milestone feeling.  I remember when I sold my first book back in 1993 and I was terrified that I’d become a one book Sally.  Happily that hasn’t happened.  So I thought about why . . .

Like most writers, I’ve always got a story percolating in my brain.  I’m the queen of what-ifs.  Most writers I meet are the same way.  They have more ideas than time to get them down on the page.

I got some terrific advice from two people early on in my career.  First, a critique partner told me I needed to write romantic suspense because my strengths were dialogue and action and the rest of what I wrote sucked.  Sounds harsh but those words changed my focus and I sold the first romantic suspense I ever wrote.  So I am grateful for her blunt and astute observations.

The second person who gave me sage advice was Mary Jo Putney.  She said if I wanted to have a career as a working writer, I needed to be prompt, professional and prolific.  She really guided me through that second sale, reminding me to write and finish a manuscript while the first one was going through the publication process.  That’s how I was able to write 3-5 books a year for so many years.  I always treated writing like my profession (which it is) and I try never to be late with a manuscript.

I did suffer a touch of burnout and didn’t write for 3 years.  Burnout is an occupational hazard and at the time, I was dealing with the loss of my child, so I wasn’t feeling too happily ever after.

One of the other reasons I think I made it to 40 is because I changed my writing focus.  It was hard to go from third person series romance to first person mystery but it was time.  Time for new challenges and a few failures along the way.  Stepping out of my comfort zone was scary.  But I kept telling myself that the worst thing that could happen was no sale.  Luckily that didn’t happen.  Sometimes you’ve just got to shake it up a little.

So what would I tell a newbie?  The same thing I was told.  Treat your career like a career.  Work hard.  Prepare for failure.  Set goals.  Learn how to meet deadlines even before you’ve sold your first manuscript.  Learn patience, publishing is annoyingly slow.  Don’t work on something so long that you begin to hate it; it will show up in your writing.  Or put another way – know when to throw in the towel and start with a fresh idea/concept.  Learn your strengths and weaknesses.  Write to those strengths and strive to overcome those weaknesses.

And lastly . . . enjoy what you’re doing.