How I Started--Writing, That Is

Why did you decide to write a book? Have you always had the creative spark burning inside you?

Not quite.

I've lived most of my life convinced I didn't have a creative bone in my body. Maybe I still don't. But then, you don't get your ideas from bone. At least not often. I hope.

I've read romances on and off for a long time. But after I spent a couple of years drowning in romance novels, I found it harder and harder to find something I liked. My favorite authors can write only so fast, and the second string I was left with, I didn't like.

What to do? I can write better than that, I told myself smugly. (Rule number one for new authors--lose the adverbs).

So I tried. And, lo and behold, I had ideas. Whether or not they were good ideas was beside the point. I wrote something.

And I wrote. Sometimes I was on a roll, and sometimes the Flood of Creativity was dammed by the Beaver of Writers' Block.

But I kept at it. Why? Stupidity, maybe. I have one novella, Lady of the Stars, under contract. I have two full length novels I'm rewriting, and a half-finished Halloween story. I have something.

Now if I can just keep the momentum going. At this time, my writing career and my website are in the same condition--Under Construction.

Thank you all,

Linda

Oh, No, Not Another Author Blog!

Well, yes.

All these authors pitching their books, you cry. Will a body never get any rest?

Well, no.

All authors must promote their books. Even New York Times best-selling authors do. Now, I'm not in that league, but my book needs publicity as much as theirs do. And as the cliche goes, it's a jungle out there. (One of the things they tell us newbie writers is not to use cliches (-:).

A blog is one avenue for publicity, as is a website.

Well, here's my blog, such as it is. I think I may subtitle it Adventures of a Newcomer to Authorland.

I also have a website, www.lindabanche.com, under construction, although I still have a long way to go with it.

Ah me, I thought being a writer meant that all I did was write. How wrong I was. I'm a brand new author, and I know next to nothing about blogs (as must be evident by now), and even less about websites (You mean I have to SET ONE UP?). And talking about myself has never been one of my talents.

But I have written a story, and The Wild Rose Press has seen fit to grant me a contract for Lady of the Stars, my Regency time travel. My cover, blurb, and an excerpt are posted on my website.

I certainly hope someone likes it.

Thank you all,

Linda