More of the author at work

I SO ROCKED THOSE CHAPTERS YESTERDAY!

::dancesdancesdancesdances::

It took from 7:30 – 5:30 but by all the gods above those two puppies (chapters 25 & 26) are done. I think. I hope. Well, they are in good shape for right now. And 25 wound up having a very sweet unanticipated turn of events, so that was fun. (Notice that I did not go to the gym… that’s the tradeoff – exercise or another chapter. Argh.)

This is what my world looked like as I worked yesterday:

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Today will not be quite as tidy. I have to go to a doctor’s appointment and take care of my mom, and there is more family stuff later in the day. If I can squeeze in work on Chapter 27 I will be very happy, but I am not going to be unrealistic about it.

In yesterday’s comments a student asked a couple of career questions I’ll answer here:

Do you enjoy what you do? I love it, even the hard days.

What is you favourite part of the job? When ideas jump up out of nowhere and when characters talk to me.

What is the hardest part of the job? I hate how long it takes to write a book, I hate how anxious I get, I wish I had affordable health insurance.

what is the average salary? (don’t answer this one if you don’t want to) Authors are paid based on the numbers of books sold. Generally, we earn 10% of the price of a hardcover book, and 6% of the price of a paperback. (Out of that money I have to pay my agent 15%.) A book that sells 10,000 copies a year is considered to be doing very well. Authors are not as rich as many people think. Except for J.K. Rowling.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a writer? Have a Plan B. You need some other kind of job that will pay the bills while you are learning the craft and breaking in (which takes on average 10 years).

Do you think that this is an obtainable career goal? It depends on how hard you are willing to work.

In other news, the magical people with the microphones just finished recording the TWISTED audiobook. I’m not sure when it will be released, but I am really looking forward to it.

Safe travels to everyone headed out to the ALA Mid-Winter conference in Seattle. Is anyone blogging from there?

15 Replies to “More of the author at work”

  1. congrats on the chapters!
    there is a PLA blog over at plablog.org and they are doing some midwinter stuff. so far aside from Tame the Web, that’s all I’ve seen but I’m sure I missed someone.

  2. Great job with the chapters. It’s obvious that’s exciting for you so, YAY for you =)

    Your house (or what the picture shows of it anyway) is gorgeous. That looks so cozy!

  3. Laurie (or anyone who has a copy of Speak and knows what I’m blathering about)! My friend has my copy of Speak, and I really, really need to know what it says about snow. The part that reminds me of an Emerson poem. Something about banshees screaming and hush/silence. It’s gonna drive me nuts til I remember it.

  4. those were good questions and answers, thanks for posting them! congrats on getting those chapters done. your house is really pretty. I am not blogging from the ala conference but I do work at the Barnes and Noble right down the street from the convention center 🙂

  5. Have a Plan B. You need some other kind of job that will pay the bills while you are learning the craft and breaking in (which takes on average 10 years).

    Good thing I’m going for my Master’s! Not that that doesn’t scare the hell out of me, heh.

  6. New Book Twisted

    Where can I find out more about Twisted? I work in Barnes and Noble and teens come in looking for your current and upcoming books?

  7. Re: New Book Twisted

    My webgod is putting together the TWISTED pages for my site right now. I will post an announcement as soon as they are up.

    As far as I know, it should be available in mid-March.

    Here is the first review. Thanks for all your support!

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