A Writer's Life

A Writer’s Life
By
N. J. Walters


Writing is a very rewarding career, but it’s not always an easy one. In fact, there’s not much about it that is easy. It’s filled with rejection. There is no job security or pension plan. And it’s isolating.

But there is no other job I’d rather be doing.

The thing is, a writer spends most of her/his time in her/his head. I know I do. A writer isn’t just daydreaming, a writing is plotting and planning. It’s all part of the process. A writer isn’t doodling, they’re working out intricate plot points and character sketches. There’s a lot of work that goes into a book other than the actually physical banging on the keyboard, producing words, paragraphs and chapters, one character at a time.

I love being able to immerse myself into a fictional world filled with incredible characters and weave stories of love and death, of betrayal and redemption. I love it when a reader emails to let me know how much they enjoyed a book or how it moved them emotionally in some way. Readers are very loyal. If they like your books, they’ll continue to support your work. I’m continually shocked and amazed by my readers and I thank each and every one of you.
It’s ironic that, once you start publishing, you have less time to spend writing. There are synopsis and blurbs to be written, contracts and cover request forms to fill out, promotion to do, blogs to write, etc… The list is endless. But the lure of the keyboard is always there. Characters are always tugging at your consciousness, trying to lure you back into a fictional world.

The process of writing also varies from book to book. I’ve written some books that have flowed easily, the words pouring onto the page in a torrent as my fingers struggle to keep up with my thoughts. I’ve also had books that have been more like trying to find a raindrop in a parched field during a six-month drought. Most fit somewhere in-between where you have good days and less than productive days. They’re all a part of the process and neither is better or worse than the other.

You have to develop a thick skin as well. You’ll work for months on a book that someone will dislike. And they’ll tell you so. Publicly. The thing you have to remember is it’s not personal. At least not for them. It’s their opinion and they’re entitled to it. They didn’t see the hours you spent at your keyboard or the hours you sweated over plot points and rewrites trying to get your vision down on paper the way you wanted it. They can’t know the anxiety you felt when it was released into the world. The way you hold your breath until someone lets you know they enjoyed it. You have to learn to enjoy the good reviews and let the bad ones go.

Then there is the every present challenge of ebook pirates—those folks who think it’s okay to put your work on the internet and give it away free to thousand of other people. It always amazes me when they do this. Would they work for free? Yet they expect writers to.

Only a very tiny percentage of writers make a huge amount of money. The vast majority of writers have day jobs or are a royalty check away from needing one. Personally, I don’t mind if a reader shares one of my ebooks with their best friend, sister or mother. What I do object to is someone making it available for free to thousands of people they don’t even know. If the writer wanted to do that, they’d post it for free themselves. And it doesn’t just hurt the writers. All publishing houses have staff who depend on the income from the books published for their salaries as well. In these tough times every penny counts. And many publishers offer free reads that writers have generously given for that purpose.

In this job, you have to hang on to the good stuff and release the negative. By far the good far outweighs the bad stuff. Writing is a fabulous career. It’s not for everyone, for sure, but it is rewarding.

So if you have multiple people talking in your head at all times, have the urge to write stories about these people, don’t care about a steady paycheck or job security, then this might be a job for you. The benefits are plenty. You are your own boss. You can wear your pajamas to work. You can even take a two-hour lunch break if you want. And, when you finally get to see your work published, there’s nothing quite like it.

N.J. has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Check out all my books at http://www.njwalters.com
http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
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