and remind me to keep writing. My victories do the same for him. And we both have our own strengths which push us to discover knew things about writing and marketing that the other can learn from.
It is possible to succeed on your own. But it's easier if you are on the journey with someone else.
Do you see writing as a career?
I do see writing as a career, a being the operative word at this stage since I don't rely on writing for the majority of my income. My other career is as an attorney, and I approach that craft as seriously as I do the writing.
A basic dictionary definition of career is "an occupation or profession, especially one requiring special training, followed as one's life work." That is exactly how I feel about writing. It is an occupation in every sense of the word. A very high percentage of the time I am not at the office, spending time with my family or sleeping, is spent on writing and studying the craft. It's not a sacrifice because I have a burning desire to write. I would rather do that than, say, watch TV (we do not own one). It is a profession, in addition to an occupation, because I treat it as a specialty craft. Consequently, I don't skip on the special training. I don't just write. I am constantly studying and reading about the craft and the business side of being an author. When I write a novel, I'll go through 12-15 rounds of heavy editing. I am a bit of a perfectionist, but anyone who buys one of my books deserves that level of effort from me. And I intend to continue to write until I die. Probably at a clip of one book a year. I think, to be able to look back at your life's work and see 50 novels written... that would be something special.
What projects are you working on now?
There are two categories of projects that I'm working on: writing and marketing.
I have significant portions of eight different novels (two trilogies and one two-book series) drafted. I focus on one series at a time as far as the serious writing goes, but am brainstorming, outlining and tweaking the other drafts as ideas come to mind. The trilogy that I am focusing on is called The Civility Code. Book one will launch later this year (probably December). I just finished the first draft of the first book last week and turned it over to my editor. The first draft
IWACA GUEST INTERVIEW
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