Drowning in Words- Todays guest post by Sharon Potts.
I'm not a sailor. I can barely swim. One of my first childhood memories was sitting by the steps of the swimming pool at Hochrat's Bungalow Colony (no, I'm not making up the name) in the New York Catskill Mountains. One moment, I was happily splashing the water, observing the bunions and differently shaped toes of the women who never ventured beyond the steps for fear of getting their hair wet. In the next instant, I was watching the world go upside-down and blurry, unable to breathe. One of the women lifted me out, shook me off, then put me back down on the step. I was two; it stayed with me.
That early experience wasn't auspicious for a life involving water. But somehow, I ended up living on a small island in Miami Beach, so I suppose one could say I do "write on the water." Though lately, as the release of my next thriller nears, I'm reminded of the sensation I experienced as a drowning two-year-old.
Let me back up. Writing is a new career for me. I started out as a CPA-corporate executive-entrepreneur. Then, about ten years ago, I sold my business and decided to pursue my passion. And no—contrary to what many people may think, including those who nicknamed me "Countess" for my propensity to count things, accounting was never my passion. So I began writing. Short stories first, then a full-length suspense novel. I wrote the entire book in three months, joined Mystery Writers of America, and started sending out queries to agents. I was on my way.
Since I was accustomed to succeeding from my previous career experiences, I was taken aback that no agents were interested in representing me. I wrote another book; another three months. It was also rejected. Reality set in. Maybe there was more to writing a book than simply putting seventy or eighty thousand words down on paper. I began studying the craft, learning about character development, pacing, setting, dialogue. I wrote several more books. But this time, my goal was to write a better book than my last one. Somewhere around book eight, Oceanview Publishing offered me a publishing contract. My first thriller, In Their Blood, came out in September 2009. It received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and won the Benjamin Franklin award for Mystery/Suspense. I no longer minded the nine years I'd invested.
It took over a year for me to get satisfied with my next thriller. Someone's Watching will be coming out on February 7—a year and four months after my debut. I expected the launch process to be the same, but I discovered that the world's once again gone upside-down and blurry on me. Publicity has turned digital. If you're not actively friending, tweeting, and blogging, no one's going to know about you. I checked my Facebook page and I have an embarrassingly low number of friends. LinkedIn—fagetaboutit—I'm barely a presence. No blogs, no tweets, no likes, I rarely make a comment on Facebook. What have I been doing?
Writing. Books. Focusing on the craft, trying to create memorable characters and plots that twist and turn. I want to write a great book, but who will read it?
I'm not a swimmer. I don't particularly like the water, but here I am living a few hundred feet from it. I suppose if I want readers to know my book's out there, I'll have to break down and friend and blog and tweet.
And yes, take up swimming. It's better than drowning.
Sharon Potts worked as a CPA, business executive, and entrepreneur before turning to a career of murder and becoming a crime fiction writer. Potts's Miami-based thrillers are about ordinary people in extraordinary situations. Her debut novel, In Their Blood, won top honors in the Mystery/Suspense category of the 2010 Benjamin Franklin Awards. Her latest thriller, Someone's Watching was called "shiver-rich" by Publishers Weekly, and "stunningly well-handled" by Booklist. She lives in Miami Beach and works on improving her craft as a writer in a critique group that includes Mike Jastrzebski and Christine Kling.
Visit her website, www.sharonpotts.com
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