I've been asked repeatedly by people who are trying to publish their own books how I got started so I thought the easiest thing I could do would be to put it all on the site.

First off, I was published for the first time in 1974. I made my first professional sale in 1980. My first book sold in 1991. The world is an entirely different place now. How I went about getting published makes for a very boring tale whenever you have insomnia, but it doesn't apply to today's market or world. 

The best advice I can give anyone wanting to publish is to join a writing organization of some kind. There are tons of them out there and they exist for every genre you could possibly be interested in. Romance, Screenwriting, Music Writing, Mystery, Science Fiction, Horror, etc. I'm a member of Romance Writers of America, Horror Writer Association and Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America.

To find other groups, search for them online. Also check out the local paper, your library and bookstores. A lot of writer's organizations meet locally and they advertise their meetings so that they can recruit members. They will help you connect with other writers who are writing and publishing in your chosen field who will be extremely knowledgeable about your specific needs and questions. 

Through them you can attend meetings, workshops and conferences and meet other writers, even editors and agents! You'll find such groups invaluable for the support and help that they give. Hopefully, you'll find a critique group through them (someone or a group of people who can read your work and comment on it) and hone your writing. They will also help you find current information about the various publishers and who is looking for what. They will teach you how to submit and everything you need to know about publishing.

The second advice I can give you is to never give up, never surrender. Believe in your dream and your writing, and never let anyone tell you you don't deserve your dream because you do. This is your life, never be afraid to live it. I am horrifyingly dyslexic. So much so that it even manifests itself verbally at times. It wasn't easy for me to learn to read or write (please don't ever ask me to write down a phone number) and my first drafts are a nightmare of typos and words out of place. It was hard, but I did learn to read and I learned to write and type (even though my right hand is partially paralyzed and 3 fingers don't work correctly). The human soul is an amazing thing and I firmly believe that we are never given a dream without having the ability to make it real. 

Everyone's road to publication is different, just as everyone's career is unique to them. I hope you have an easy path. I never have. I've made my career on selling books that those around me said were unmarketable and I've had to reinvent myself and rebuild my career all over again. For more info about that, please read my bio. 

Remember the old fable, it's slow and steady that wins the race. Keep your eye on what you want and work for it. Don't stop trying. The only guarantee we have in this business is "If I don't submit it, they can't buy it." So submit, submit, submit.

For those who are always asking me where I get my ideas, I honestly don't know. For some reason the best ideas come to me either when I'm driving alone for long distances, daydreaming or when I'm in the shower. I know that sounds weird, but it's true. I like to call it my "channeling coma." In such situations, my mind is free to wander and it connects to the people in my books. I listen to them and they tell me their stories. I can write without knowing the plot, but I can never write without knowing my people. I can't even begin a book until I hear their voices in my head. It's only when they speak that I'm able to do what I do.

I never write a clean first draft. My own personal opinion is that great books are rewritten. It's in the revisions that I feel my work comes alive. I never let anyone read my first draft (well okay on very rare occasions I might let  my critique partner read a tidbit or two, but it's rare). 

I usually draft a novel in 2-3 weeks (that's writing an average of 20-30 pages day without any heavy revising). Then I spend another month reworking the story. No, that's not normal for most writers. The average writer regardless of genre writes 3 pages a day. Some write as few as 1. Never feel bad because you can't do as many pages or you do more than other writers. We are unique. No 2 writers write the same way, nor are we inspired by the same things. Some books take longer to write than others. Some come easy and some are borne of hard, painful labor.  No two books will ever be the same in terms of how you write them or how long they take to finish.

Give yourself the freedom to be you. Work on YOUR schedule, not mine or anyone else's. Never let anyone tell you the "right" way to write a book. If you tell a story and it has a beginning a middle and an end, then it's a story. How you got from point A to B to the end is your business. No one else's. Listen to your inner muse and your inner voices. They will tell you what you need to make your own goals a reality. 

Contrary to the common myth that all writers write every day or that they should, I don't. In fact, I know very few writers who do. Like everyone else I do work everyday -- usually 14-20 hours total, 7 days a week-- but some days are taken up with answering fan mail/email, writing back cover copy, approving back cover copy, website updates and designs, nagging Nick, checking with my site monitors to make sure the sites and loops are okay, designing/writing publicity materials, traveling for work, talking to bookstore personnel and distributors, conferences/cons (if anyone doubts how much hard work goes into a conference appearance, talk to Brynna who continually threatens to quit every time I have one coming up), contract negotiations, appearances, personal/family emergencies [the last half of Kiss of the Night was written in the hospital room with my mother; while most of Fantasy Lover was written while I was confined to a hospital bed],  etc. All that will occasionally leave absolutely no time for writing. But I have a page count for the week. As long as I meet my weekly goal, I'm happy. No, I don't always meet that goal, but I usually come close. If I miss it, I beat myself up, then shrug it off and adjust my schedule to catch up the following week.

My "average" (and I laugh as I type that because there seldom is such a thing) day is basically, I get up, stagger to the fridge to grab a Coke and stagger into my office (which is the smallest room in the house and is right off the kitchen--it barely fits me, my 2 desks, tiny phone table and 2 small bookshelves but I love it because it HAS A WINDOW with trees outside!!! For 5 years, I wrote in the basement staring at four windowless walls). 

But I digress, I turn on the computer, sit in my chair and stare at it like it's an alien beast while it boots. After it's up, I still stare at it (mostly because Travis Fimmel is stretched out across my desktop and he's a fine way to start every morning. If I get up before my children leave for school, I stagger into the kitchen to growl good morning at them (I'm so not a morning person). Some days I make them breakfast (my hubby does most mornings) and if it's a red day on the fridge calendar, I pack their lunch (I have one very picky eater and a couple who don't like certain menu items at school).

But on the normal day, they're already in school by the time I stir awake and if I'm really lucky my hubby is at the office and I'm free to not have to be pleasant in the morning (I really have to stress my allergy to mornings). 

After my Travis moment, I open my programs which are all preprogrammed as buttons on my keyboard (because I'm not a morning person and figuring out how to operate the computer stumps me until noon, but I can press a button). I check the bbs, guestbooks and email. I also check my sticky note tree seen here...     

That tree sits next to my phone which is directly to my left and tells me if I have any appointments that day, or phone calls to be returned. It also tells me of any bright idea I had for the book I'm working on. BTW, my office has a separate line and that's the only one I answer during "office hours" (and the cell phone which is the one the school, my brother and assistant use to get a hold of me. So if it rings, I know it's important). 

I answer email, do website maintenance and make calls in the morning which if I'm lucky is only for an hour (I try to sleep until 10, but many mornings have me up anywhere from 6-9). Then I break for lunch. I call my assistant and check in to see if she needs anything. I chat with her while I eat for about 30 mins to an hour. We hang up and if I'm lucky, I'm able to knuckle down and work until the boys come home. My hubby comes home usually right before they do. 

I break to say hi, go through backpacks, look over schoolwork and do some Mom things. They then go off and do their own stuff  (unless we have practice or scouting). If I can, I sneak back to the office to work. Around 5-6 I stop to make dinner and talk to hubby, or I call friends and chat if he's busy. That's why I like doctor's appointments, grocery shopping, cooking and practice, I get to talk to my friends then :) Three days a week, I try to sneak off to Curves for about an hour and workout. That is worked in whenever I can, usually in the afternoon, but sometimes it's at lunch or in the morning or evening. I don't always make it to Curves. It's the last thing on my priority sheet. 

After dinner, I chat with my hubby while he cleans up and then we do homework with the kids. I tuck the little ones in and then I head back off to the office to work until the very wee hours of the morning-- literally until I'm too tired to stay awake which is usually between 2-5 am). At least two nights a week, I take a night off so to speak to spend with my hubby until he goes to bed (he's a morning person). After he goes down, I get up to work. I am a workaholic who comes from a long line of them.  I don't watch TV unless there's a really kewl show, but since they cancelled Buffy, Tarzan and Angel, I haven't found anything else to be addicted to. DVDs are my one weakness and my hubby is often seen buying new ones to lure me out of my office and into the family room for a night with him, the kids and popcorn.    

To help organize my hectic schedule, I keep dry-erase calendars on my walls that show me an entire year in advance so that I can see what all I need to take care of. When one month ends, I spend a few hours erasing that month and then writing in the events that will occur the following year during that month. It's how I stay organized. To give you an idea of what they look like, here's an example for 2005: 

Orange are appearances/signings. Red is reserved for family. Purple are release dates. Blue is my daily page goal to meet the weekly goal. Brown are when I should have a draft done. Yellow are manuscript due dates. Green are publicity due dates for when I need to have materials in or ordered.

That in a nutshell is the glamorous look at a writer's life :) It's really, really normal. And really, really hectic. It's broken up by doctor visits, inlaw visits, leaking roof, kids sick from school, mom then gets the bug--then dad who is more trouble than the kids, electrical failures, car crapped out on me, upset friends, happy friends, parent/teacher conferences, games, cookie/cake night where we bake, homework, ' he hit me,' 'he's looking at me,' honey/Mom where's my... fill in the blank, and other day to day events and crisis.

I'm extremely blessed to be a full time writer now, but most of my life, I worked a full time job (in some cases 2) while I juggled family and deadlines. It's not easy to do, but my mother was always the first one to say life isn't easy. You have to find the time to pursue your dreams. I used to find mine during my hour long lunch at work or going to the office an hour or 2 early to write. Or staying up really late and then working my job the next day with only 3 hours of sleep.

All that brings me to the last question that I'm so often asked. Do I need an agent? I've sold many books on my own without one in more than one field. So no, you don't need to have an agent. I think Stephen King says it best. "You'll know when you need an agent." If you feel more comfortable with one, go for it. If not, then try it alone. After all no agent is infinitely better than a bad one. Finding an agent is like finding a spouse. You need one you can be yourself with. One who shares your goals and vision. Just like with the spouse, you'll know when it's right. 

Never take an agent just because they said yes to you. Make sure they are the right agent for you. And if they're not, divorce is always an option and it's one you shouldn't hesitate to seek out. If other writers, even if they are more successful than you, poo-poo the agent of your dreams, don't listen to them. Again, agents are like spouses. They're individuals and just because they didn't work out well with one writer doesn't mean they're not the agent of YOUR dreams (this is also true of publishing houses). Most women would kill my husband, but he fits me perfectly and I wouldn't trade him for all the Travis Fimmels in the world (wait a second, how many Travises are we talking?) Hmmm... Oh wait, I was making a point. Have to tear myself away from that daydream, back to reality.

Agents. We were talking about agents. Only listen if the other people giving the advice are saying that the agent was jailed for embezzlement or if they have a long history of leaving contracts on the table while they take a 3 month vacation, or if they have recently negotiated a contract that caused either them or a writer to be sued--or they really screwed up and caused a contract to be broken. Then those are valid concerns. But the, "I don't like his or her style" or I don't like the way they talk to me or do things." That's a personal criticism  that you may or may not share. Note that I don't like the fact my hubby tosses my Coke in the garbage if I leave it on the countertop in the kitchen when I go to the bathroom, but 20 years later, I'm still with him. His pluses make up for those negatives. Agents and publishers are the same.

No one is perfect. Well, maybe Acheron is perfect... probably Travis Fimmel. But we mere mortals are not. What is one writer's dream house/agent is another writer's nightmare. The best publishing house in the world is the one that writes you a check for something you wrote and that check doesn't bounce when you cash it. The best agent in the world is the one who calls you up and says, "I have an offer." Don't let people run your house or you agent down if they're working for you. 

But while seeking out the agent and publisher, listen and weigh everything good and bad that you hear with a grain of salt. Remember some writers have easy careers and others have serious battle scars. Whichever path they've walked will color their opinions of the industry. So consider the source you've gone to for advice. Listen, study and then make your own decision.  

If you want more detailed info about the writing business, Sabrina Jeffries and Stephanie Bond both maintain a lot of how to articles on their sites. Make sure you check out Sabrina's article on the truth about how much money a writer makes. It's very accurate and very scary. 

For those who wonder what a writer's office looks like... here's the nitty-gritty horror of mine.

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