By : Linda Conrad
Hi Everyone! Nice to be invited here. Thanks!
I gave a group of writers advice once that all it took to make it in this business was hard work, persistence, and a little luck. No one wanted to hear that. Newbies want the “secret” to publishing. But since then, I have changed my mind. Oh, it still takes lots of hard work and persistence. There is no magic secret. But I have come to the conclusion that you can make your own luck. The one thing I learned over the years is that making friends in the business: other authors whom you trust to critique you, people you meet at conferences and meetings, and many others who just make you happy that you are a writer are the real “luck” for anyone who wants to become a best seller.
I started to write soon after my mother passed away
nearly thirty years ago. She’d reminded me that I had always wanted to write
and that I made up terrific stories. It took me several years to grieve and
then to figure out what I wanted to write. Did I want to write non-fiction? No.
Not me. Then what about those stories? Mysteries? Romance? I joined a local romance writers’ group and
never looked back.
It took several years of hard work and going to classes, conferences, and just talking to the people I met for me to come up with my first best seller. It’s still selling around the world twenty years later, by the way.
Along my
road to success, I watched others and learned.
I saw writers who wrote book after book for many years before they hit
the right one. I was impressed with their persistence and patience. And I learned from it. I also tentatively started wonderful relationships with fellow writers, some of
whom have become lifelong friends.
Good
writers of fiction are good listeners. They observe the world and people around
them. That’s how they write characters that seem like real people. That’s also how I made my own luck. I listened to other authors and editors. I
saw people who seemed to be “at the right place at the right time.” But it turns out that they were at that place
(or their book was there) because another author had paved the way, or suggested
it, or pushed them to write the best they could.
The other
thing good writers do is learn to accept editing of their precious words. I
have watched other writers suffer over that one. The story should be an author’s
main concern, but how it’s told is the trick. Writing, writing, writing makes
you better. But working with good critique partners and good editors can make
you the best.
So, I always try to thank all the
people who helped and pushed me along the way. They are invaluable. Writing is a wonderful vocation and
avocation. Writing stories can soothe your soul. But it’s the people you meet, other writers,
editors, even readers who make this the best way to spend your life.
