I was setting up at the Community Market when I began second guessing myself, chiding really; after all I spent a lot of money for that space and if it went as well–or badly–as the last time it would all be for naught. It would suck time, work, and money for no return at all, financial or otherwise. As a writer of romance I often wonder whether I’m pursuing a fool’s dream. Like many prospectors during the gold rush who yielded nothing but shiny dirt, am I investing my own sweat and tears (not to mention money) for nothing?
If it wasn’t for the fact I absolutely love writing more than anything else in the world (even more than coffee) I may have given up by now. As the years pass, I have developed a thicker skin, a good thing in this business. The first few years of attending events were depressing. I would go home in tears and not touch any writing for days on end, too discouraged to continue. But that love, that passion for the written word, always pulled me back. Now, I finally can take the blow and roll with the punches. I go to these events with a different attitude, not that starry-eyed hope I will somehow sell a lot of books and even better, engage in great conversations with readers.
If you’re just beginning this journey, you may get lucky and strike gold, or you might be like me, a writer who is yet to crack the code, you know the one that will make me a best-selling author. Hell, I’ll settle for someone who sells a few hundred books a month. If that’s the case you’ll have to ask yourself one very important question: will you bear not writing anymore? Will you feel empty and lost if you don’t have a manuscript going, a search for the perfect cover or a great editor? If the answer is yes then keep going like me, always hoping the next book will hit that sweet spot. If you say no, then maybe it’s time to give up because being a writer is not for the faint of heart.
With all of that said, the thrill of seeing your words in print never gets old. And when a reader tells you how much they’ve enjoyed one of your stories it makes up for all the heartache. For me writing is true love and who wouldn’t do everything for what they love?
Author Natalina Reis 