AuthorTRRagan

Ooh, only one? Ha. Number one would be to do everything you can to learn your craft. Join a writer’s group in your area or find another writer you can exchange pages with. Also read as much as you can. Most great writers are big readers. If you want to write a thriller, start reading thrillers. Dissect them, see what the great authors do. Why do you like their dialogue or plot? What are they doing to hold your attention? Write as often as possible, every day if you can. Don’t worry too much about the first draft. Get it down on paper. The best writing is in the revision. I love the quote by Nora Roberts, something about “You can fix a bad page, but you can’t fix a blank page.” Also, believe in yourself. You can do it!

Good question. I had literally zero money in the beginning. That's why you can find Blogger or other places to make a free website. All social media is free. I would use birthday money to go to conferences and share a room with other authors. Join a local writing chapter if you can. And then have friends and family read your book and get feedback, but hopefully you can find family and friends that read a lot. Google editors. Some editors and proofers will edit your book for a few hundred dollars. If you can't do that, send your book to a contest and get feedback. Use social media and then once you make a little money, put it back into your career.

I had a husband who had a full time job. After we had our fourth child, my paycheck did not cover daycare so we decided together that I would stay home with kids, which is a full time job in itself. I wrote late at night after kids were fed and put to bed. I wrote early in the morning before they woke up, and I wrote at their sporting events and in the car while waiting for them to get out of school. My husband put the food on the table. We have always worked together as equal partners. Now I write and he helps me with foreign translations and brainstorming books! Where there is a will there is a way!

After making NOTHING for 20 years, I am now making a very comfortable living. And more than I ever dreamed I would make.

Thank you! Great question! I did try quitting for six months, but I couldn’t do it. I loved to write and I knew I was going to keep writing whether I ever got a book published or not. When I got a rejection in the mail, I would allow myself to feel sorry for myself for the rest of the day. And then the next day, I would force my butt into the chair in front of the computer and write. Even if I didn’t feel like it. I would force myself to submit pages to another editor or agent. One thing that really helped me during all of the tough times was telling myself that I was going to remain positive. For instance, when I couldn’t sell a book, my writing friends were all getting published and so I told myself that was a great thing to know that publishers were still buying new authors. Ha! Sometimes I wonder myself how I kept going, but I was determined to have my stories read. Also, I kept trying different genres. I wrote romance, medieval time travels, romantic suspense and finally out of extreme frustration with the industry, I decided to write thrillers. Killing off some characters was therapeutic. Ha! Anyhow, my first thriller was the book that took off. So, I like to think that everything happens for a reason. Let’s see, about the future, I like to think big, so I would like to see my books made into movies or maybe a TV series.