My Writing Experiences … And How They Help Me Help YouI have been writing since I was a child, and have had a successful writing career, with seven fiction books published by major publishers. My novel, Petersburg, was my best success, selling for $250,000 to Putnams, with a paperback sale of $200,000 to Fawcett. It was offered by the Literary Guild and Doublelday Book Clubs and went on to become a best seller in England, as well as being published in Germany, Italy and Greece. After my great success with Petersburg, I had what I consider the best novel I ever wrote, Mistress of the Labyrinth, turned down by dozens of publishers, after I initially rejected Putnams' bid. This kind of shattering disappointment is also part of the writing experience, and though I still hope to sell this novel, I have never once regretted all the years spent on writing Mistress of the Labyrinth. The journey I took with my main character, Lyra, literally changed my life. Lyra opened me to a part of myself and led me on a journey that I wouldn't trade for a million dollar publishing advance. (I have written about my experience with Lyra and Mistress of the Labyrinth in my book, The Art of Fiction Writing)Although not being able to sell Mistress was devastating for a while, it no longer is. Getting from devastation to acceptance and non-attachment to the rejections has been a major journey for me, and one that I both appreciate and use to support you in your writing journey. I offer you everything I have learned from my life as writer -- from my understanding of how to develop characters and story line and the powerful affects our writing has on our inner life to editing, agents, publishers and most aspects of the publishing industry. I've done just about all of publishing from the writer's point of view -- from A-Z! Next |
