Goodreads asked Stacy M. Jones:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Stacy M. Jones It takes hard work. I've talked to so many people who say they want to write a book but don't really want to do the hard work of writing a book. It takes planning into your day, commitment and dedication. I've had other people ask me if I'm, "one of those starving artist types." No, you can make a living writing, but it takes work every single day and skills beyond writing - business skills, marketing and PR, most specifically.

Also when writing just about anything I live by the - "get it out, then get it good" philosophy. I don't try to edit while I'm writing. I'll write an entire chapter and then sometimes even walk away from it and write something else. Then I come back and edit only for content. Am I getting my story across? I worry about grammar, punctuation and all that later.

Finally, I read all I can from my genre, other genres, advice from successful writers, business books..etc. I'm constantly learning. During the last few days before I published I was reading a David Baldacci book and I was really studying how he wrote, not just reading the story. I went into my own, and on a final edit, was really able to tighten some content.

Also learn when to take the constructive criticism as a way to really make your writing better. Not all criticism is valid or even changes you should make, but I was open to accepting where I could make the story and my writing better.

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