My turn to blog—and boy, is it late.  Raine will be one grumpy  bitch  Chica come morning…

So what did you expect, you who are in, or just becoming involved with, this writing gig?  Be honest.  You had or still have illusions about it, yes?

I confess I did.  Still do.  For example, I hoped I could write well enough—sell well enough—to do it full-time.  And no, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.  After all, they’re seriously talking about life on Mars these days.  :roll:

Truths?

For those who’re just starting out, and dreaming of those six or seven-digit advances you hear trumpeted in market news…don’t hold your breath.  Asphyxiation is highly overrated.  The reason you hear about them is because they ARE unusual.  You don’t hear much about the average author sweating out 3-4 books a year for a five-digit figure—MAYBE.

If you’ve got your first e-book, print, or POD book out, and harbor a secret dream of being recognized as one of ‘the chosen ones’, the honest odds are against it.  Doesn’t mean it WON’T happen.  It DOES.  But again—when you hear about such cases, it’s the man-bites-dog thing.  Be thrilled, be happy, be encouraged.  Just don’t be impatient, try not to become discouraged, and don’t wonder why the editors aren’t knocking at your door like Publisher’s Clearing House.  They’re busy reading—you guessed it—other people’s manuscripts.

What CAN you expect?

You can expect that some readers will like you and some won’t.  You can expect to want to be better than you are, at whatever stage you’re at.  You can expect that the possiblity of more success is always there, whether it is where you’re looking or not.

And you can expect that, if writing is truly in your blood, you’ll nod, give a tip of the hat to all of this, sit your butt in a chair, and keep writing.

So excuse me, but I need to get a little sleep.  I’ve got writing to do tomorrow.  :wink: