TRISH JACKSON ON "WRITING - A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY"

WRITING – A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY

First, thank you so much, Marta for inviting me to be a guest on your blog. I feel honored to number among the wonderful authors you've had on this blog.

Recently in interviews I've been conducting on my own blog, I've asked authors what advice they would give to other writers, and they've come up with some wonderful, positive suggestions. The most common and probably the best being: "keep writing and never give up."

Writing is an amazing journey of discovery, and although I had always written stories, no-one was more surprised than me when I found that I was actually able to complete a full length novel that other adults may enjoy reading.

That was in the mid-nineties, before the Internet had become a household name. Publishers still held the power, and were like gods. Self-publishing and small presses were not an option, and eBooks had not yet been invented. The publishers set their own "rules" that had to be followed if you had any chance of ever being published.

I tried submitting WAY OUT OF LINE and found it hard not to take the rejections personally. Finally, a POD publisher accepted it. Publish America was somewhere between a vanity press, whom you pay to publish your work, and a traditional publisher, who pay you for the publishing rights. I accepted out of desperation and they offered very little help with anything.

When I had completed my next novel, REDNECK P.I., self-publishing and eBooks had become a reality and had taken the power away from the traditional publishers. The challenge was on for me to have a publisher accept my manuscript on merit. I knew it was good, so I followed the submission guidelines and sent it to several publishers, and when Uncial Press accepted it, I was ecstatic. Uncial Press published the sequel, KICK ASSITUDE this March.

Since then, I have signed a contract with an agent and had CAPRICORN CRAVINGS, the first book in my Astrology Series, accepted by a larger publisher, Soul Mate Publishing.

Strangely, I'm actually contemplating self-publishing the third novel in the Redneck Series, BACKWOODS BOOGIE. Although one does not have a professional editor to consult going this route, one has total freedom to publish immediately instead of having to wait for a publisher's time scale, plus control over the pricing.

So my advice to writers is - whichever route you go, keep writing and never give up. We are living in a great period in history for writers.

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