Samhain Publishing Ltd Weblog

Slow Rider

Make that Slow Writer. Now change the word “slow” to something more accurate. Meticulous, maybe. Or conscientious.

If your favorite authors don’t show up with good books as often as you wish they would, there’s a reason for that. They might be slow writers. They might be writers who won’t let go of a manuscript until they’ve assured themselves it’s as good as they can make it. They don’t want some sub-standard book appearing on the shelves with their name on it. A book that readers will ho-hum through, if they even bother to finish it. A book that will let down even one fan. If you read enough fiction you will soon discover that mediocrity runs rampant in the publishing world. The good books can sometimes be hard to find.

There could be a hundred reasons why there’s such a huge chunk of time between a writer’s last book and the next one. Writers are human beings and just like in your life, things happen. Family crises. Health issues. Computer crashes. Vacations. Rejections. Sometimes, life simply gets in the way of creating the next good book, even if that’s all a writer wants to do.

Since A MONTH FROM MIAMI came out in print earlier this year, I’ve sold lots of books to customers of the Starbucks where I work. And I am constantly asked when my next book is coming out. The answer is, “I don’t know.” But what I tell them is I’m a slow writer. Realizing this came as a revelation to me, because I never thought I was slow when I first started writing. But what I discovered is yes, I could write a rough draft fairly quickly. As a beginning writer, I thought the finished rough draft was the done book. It isn’t. Many of you may know that I first wrote A MONTH FROM MIAMI in 1998. What you don’t know is how much work it took to pull it out ten years later and make it sellable.

Above my computer I have this quote clipped from a Publishers Digest magazine many years ago: “Want-to-be writers admit defeat easily. Successful writers never give up.”

I never give up on my old manuscripts. I’m always surprised when I pull them out and read them again. I did this recently with one entitled SCATTERED MOMENTS. (Another rough draft I tried to market years ago.) I read the first half of it and thought, Wow, this is really good. And now, with experience and perspective, I can see how the book fell apart half-way through where it takes an abrupt turn from a romance into a suspense novel. Can this novel be fixed? Stay tuned, because that’s what I’m working on these days.

In the meantime, yes, I’ve written a connected book to A MONTH FROM MIAMI, which I hope is on my editor’s desk or in her inbox. It features Rick’s twin brother as the hero, and it took me what felt like forever to write from scratch. How appropriate is it that my working title is A FOREVER KIND OF GUY? And why do you never hear about Rick’s twin brother Ray during the course of A MONTH FROM MIAMI? Because I didn’t get the idea for a connected book until after A MONTH FROM MIAMI was already published. Brilliant, huh? I told you, I’m a slow writer.

During this same period of time, I also got caught up with an idea for a sort of screwball urban fantasy and I wrote that. I’m afraid it might not yet be ready for an editor’s eyes. So even though an author isn’t constantly published, that doesn’t mean she isn’t writing.

Every day, even though all I might want to do is write, the rest of my life somehow conspires to prevent that from happening. If I don’t get up at the crack of dawn to work an opening shift at Starbucks, I’m usually up by 7 a.m. at the latest. Coffee is a must. Letting the dog out, retrieving the paper, and checking e-mail follow. At some point, I need breakfast and often I work on the crossword while I’m eating. Then there are appointments, occasional get-togethers with friends (like today at 11:30). Laundry to be done. I’m leaving on a cruise next Monday so there are plans to be made and bags to pack. A guest room to prepare. A blog to write. I’m scheduled to work at Starbucks at 2:45. It’s only a 4-hour shift, but still, it’s a chunk out of my writing day. Somewhere in there I try to get some exercise and stop at the grocery store. If I’ve got any energy left, (after creating some sort of evening meal for the dh and cleaning up afterward) sometimes I can write in the evening, but usually by then, guess what? I’m tired!

Did I mention I’ve been painting the woodwork in my house? That I need to take my bike in for repair? That my daughter visited last weekend while I babysat my son’s dogs at the same time? And don’t get me started on the fact that the pool needs some attention and the driveway is covered with pine needles.

Should I tell you that I panicked a bit yesterday when I saw the e-mail notice that a blog is due on October 14th? My first thought was, I’ve got nothing prepared and I’ll be sailing the Caribbean then. Yikes!

This is how life gets in the way of a slow writer. We’re just like you. All we want in the end is a really good book.