Tuesday, June 07, 2005

What Would You Do For 100,000?

Yesterday I visited Monica Jackson’s blog. She talked about someone getting a 100,000 to blog about the Dukes of Hazzards. As a fan of the Dukes, I responded why hadn’t I heard about that job. I could have many stories to tell.

On the drive home, (yes I get most of my writing ideas on the drive home) I thought about, what would I do for 100,000? That’s a lot of money and a lot of ideas flew through my head.

As a writer, we always say we write what’s in our heart. However sometimes we have to write to put food on the table.

There are many genre’s popping up in the market that are HOT right now. The publishers are asking for submissions, snatching up new writers.

I’ve asked myself do I want to write in these genre’s to get my name out and to make me some money?

When you’re not published you are so in a hurry to get published. All you want is a book with your name on it.

As an interviewer I’ve met many writers who regret the hurried decision. Finding your voice is hard and when you jump into a genre just to get your name out there, its hard to break away from it. If you’re not a romance reader but write romance because its HOT. Its not fair to your fans or to you because eventually you end of hating the genre. You want to write what’s in your heart, but the romance is paying the bills. You lose your fans because they can read you no longer want to write romance.

Was it worth it?

I’ve decided for now to continue writing what’s in my heart. I have a day job, so its not bothering me feeding my family. However when the time comes, I can be proud of what I wrote and not worry about trying to buy up all those wild books I wrote when I was trying to break into the publishing market.

So what would you do for 100,000?

P.S. Yes I watched TV last night. Hell’s Kitchen and Medium was on. Did I enjoy it. You bet!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was glad to read what you had to say. About four years back, I submitted Powwow Pickup to Kensington through a connection. It got to the right editor and she said she loved my writing style but I would have to make some changes to the manuscript to fit their format. Basically, if I had agreed to fitting their format, all that would have been left of Powwow were the names and location. Sometimes I regret I did not jump at the chance and other times I think it was the right decision because, like you, Powwow is from the heart and I would begin to hate the boredom of writing formula romance. It is just not for me. This was before chic lit and multicultural was becoming vogue