Becoming a writer is an interesting experience. For me, it is socially antisocial. Many writers that I know complain that the profession is a lonely one. They seem to spend a lot of time sat at a computer on their own in a room in their house. I can’t help but think that after a few years they will become the stereotypical writer – an introvert. Someone who can write plenty about the world and its people, but cannot connect with it. I am not a massively outgoing person; very rarely am I the life of the party, and I don’t have a huge circle of friends or associates that I hang around with.
However, I do think that getting out there and meeting people in the industry (and my clientele) is very important. I also tend to find that I work best in busy places. When my kids were younger, I used to love going to places like soft-plays and suchlike; the atmosphere used to get the pages flooding out. I did some of my best writing listening to parents trying to control their sugar-fuelled youngsters and the associated hollering… as long as I could find a power socket in which to plug my laptop, I was set for the day. When my kids came up to me saying that they had had enough, it was me pleading for a few more minutes!
It’s also important for me to get reactions from the people who read my books. I love hearing what people have to say. Thankfully, most of the feedback that I had for my first book was generally very positive, even in the mass quantity of rejection letters that convinced me to become self-published. I would rather talk to someone who has read my work for the genuine pleasure of doing so, and not those to write a scathing review comparing it to the best in the genre. I am only just starting out, and I want to enjoy what I hope to become my life-long career. I get a real boost from people telling me about their experience in my thoughts, be they positive or negative. It is the fuel that powers my enjoyment in writing, and I hope that this continues long into the future.
If you pick up a copy of my book (hopefully soon to be books), feel free to drop me a line telling me what you think. I am always grateful!
