“How can I get started in novel writing?” Someone recently asked me this question, and my mind swam with a myriad of thoughts and questions. Such an elementary question forced me to stomp on my mental brakes and flash back about thirty years to the days when I filled notebooks with all sorts of strange tales with my childlike, loopy handwriting. What the questioner really wanted to know was, How can I publish novels? But the answer to that question—and what a big question it is—is only part of the journey. So let’s start at the beginning. Before anyone should seriously pursue novel publication in any formal sense, I believe he or she should first ask the following five questions: 1. Do I love fiction? To be a great writer of fiction, you must first be a great lover of it. I firmly believe that. You’ll need extraordinary perseverance not…
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I’m on hiatus today for a brief family vacation. I’ll be back next Friday. Looking forward to connecting with you then.
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It is nose-numbing winter near Flint, Michigan. There’s a reason why it’s been called one of the murder capitals of the world. More murders are committed there than even Baghdad. I zip up, push my way through double doors, and leave the elementary school behind, carefully guiding my booted feet down ice-slick steps. The subzero wind chafes my cheeks and stings my eyes until they swim. If had looked at myself in a mirror, rosy cheeks would have glowed back at me. But I don’t seek a mirror. I’m not really sure what I’m looking for. Or where I’m going. Maybe I’m not really going anywhere. Wait. Yes, I am. I turn right and head toward . . . Snow. Dunes of it everywhere. All across the playground. Remnants of the latest storm. I come up short. Staining the snow at my feet pools red Kool-Aid. Lot of it. Something tells…
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See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6. #7: Once I publish my novel, I’ll just be able to keep cranking them out. Oh, if only it were that simple, especially in today’s economic climate. The fact is, publishing a well-crafted novel is no guarantee of future publication. Oh, if only novels could be published based on their own merits. Stepping into publication, I had a lot to learn. I naively thought getting my first novel published basically guaranteed long-term publication. After all, if my first novel was good enough to be accepted, why not future books? Being a Salesperson What I learned is that getting a novel published is only a small part of the equation. The other part is the almighty dollar. Publishers take a big financial risk on first-time novelists. They spend a lot of money on editing, graphic design, and printing. They put their necks…
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