Interview With Thriller Author Diane Capri

Read the full article below, or click to read and comment over at Write It Sideways

Today’s post is written by Debra Eve.

What can you tell writers with families and day jobs about keeping the faith?

I often speak to groups of aspiring authors who worry that they’ll never “make it,” because the field is “too crowded” and they’re “not good enough” and it’s “too hard to get published.” I tell them the truth: Believe me, not everyone wants to write a book.

In fact, millions of people don’t even want to read a book, let alone write one. Yes, writing is a competitive business. What work of any value is not competitive? But I believe that desire is a gift; we don’t desire to do things we have no talent for; and if you have a desire to write, you have at least some talent for it.

I can easily prove this to you by demonstrating all the things I have absolutely no desire to do, and even less talent for. (Like football. Seriously? Not only do I throw like a girl, I can’t catch, either!) If you have the desire to write, you have talent, and it’s up to you to develop that talent.

There are so many platitudes out there about never giving up and perseverance. But they’re all true. You can’t succeed if you don’t try. Don’t get discouraged when you hear “overnight success” stories. Most of the time, overnight success takes at least ten years!

The best news in today’s market is that writers can self-publish and actually reach our readers, which gives us all so many more options than we had before. Almost every author I know is self-publishing something. (And I know a lot of authors!)

If you have the desire and you’re willing to do the work you can be a published author. No extraordinary faith required.

Japanese Grandmother Available from Kindle