Writing books is hard!

Don't ever let anyone tell you that writing a book is easy. It's NOT! My first effort came about because I was between jobs. I had always been a voracious reader, and I thought, "Gee, how hard could it be to write a book?" The answer is: not hard to write one, just hard to write a good one.

I began with my first mistake: too much research on the subject of the book, too little creative thinking before I plunged into the "story". The story itself was thin, the protagonist not particularly admirable, and the ending abrupt and incomplete. In other words, my first novel sucked! In my naive perception of how books are published, I began mailing entire manuscripts to agents and publishers. I can't even remember how much postage I wasted doing that before I realized that most of them only want query letters. So then I began writing query letters. The problem is I was writing them as if they were business letters; because I work in finance, these letters were dry and uninteresting, and they didn't have any life of their own. The rejections poured in.

You'd think that this would have deterred me from writing another book, but I had many more stories in me, so I plunged into the next novel headfirst. Again, too much research, but a much better story.

Now I have written nine novels, have one published and available on Amazon as an ebook, and have another one in the editing stages. The ebook, A SPY AT HOME, is selling fairly well, and I am working the social media frantically, trying to get the word out.

So, novice writers, take heed. Even if you believe that your novel is the best work out there, remember there are tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) just like you who believe the same thing. Work hard, promote your book every way you can, and don't lose heart. But remember, you are up against some very stiff competition, and you must persevere!