State of things

One of my favorite things about being an author is my author friends. No, I'm not friends with all authors, but the ones I am friends with are amazing. They are creative in a way that is hard to explain to people who don't carry the weirdness of writing. They are honest. They are there for me when I can't write or won't write or seriously shocked by the state of the world in which we float. I don't say live, because I don't immerse myself in it. I can't. I have to pay bills. I don't write to pay bills, which is freeing. I write what I have to write. I think you can tell when you read my books that I don't write on trend or what I think will sell. Shit I have trouble even picking a genre when I have to. I bleed out what is sitting in my brain.

I had a conversation with an author friend of mine yesterday and I feel very lucky that I can do that. Just follow what the characters in my brain are telling me and now worry about my bills. The state of the indie world is a little over saturated with writers. On one hand it's awesome because I feel like if you have a story in you let it out. On the other hand it gives people who think they can write a platform and maybe they don't do what they need to be on the same playing field. I say that because I write. I love writing. Publishing is an entirely different animal.

Publishing is timing, editing, cover, and a shit load of luck. All that's cool with me, but I know some authors that need to pay bills who keep putting books out there and haven't hit the mother load that some have with their first book. Is there envy? Sure. Is there jealousy? I'm not really a jealous person, but I could totally see how that would happen. Is there regret? Not from me. You want to know why? Because I write what I want to and I don't regret a single word.

Okay, maybe a word or two...