I Am Not Alone

During the recent RT Booklovers Convention in Dallas, I was hit with sudden insight. What was it? Simple. I am not alone.

In the three years I’ve focused my energies on writing my Angel Assassins series, I’ve often wondered if I’d made a huge mistake following the author road. It hasn’t been paved with gold and precious gems. Beneath my feet were bones and the skeletal remains of would-be authors who’ve traveled before me. Dire? Yes, but oh so impossible to resist.

Starting today, the New & Emerging column is my opportunity to share the journeys of other debut authors who, like myself, understand what’s ahead for us will take everything we have and everything we are to reach the next milestone and achieve the next goal. For some, the big time is hitting the New York Times or USA Today best sellers lists. Some want movie deals or TV shows based on their books. For others, it’s finding readers who’ll enjoy their work enough to buy the next book and the next, to infinity.

Dreams. I understand them. I grew up in Detroit in a not-nice neighborhood. My mom raised two girls solo, and it was our close-knit Jamaican community that we relied on to stay out of trouble and focused on getting an education, and then getting the heck out.

Reading was (and remains) my passion so becoming a newspaper reporter was natural. Words were my friends and my escape. Now, words are my life. I write urban fantasy romance novels where my heroes have serious trust issues and my heroines are streetwise and independent. I make them earn their happily ever after because that’s what I had to do. Authors often write what they know, and I know how to survive against ratty odds.

Meeting fellow debut authors at the convention gave me a glimpse of other stories of success and failure. Quite a few made me laugh out loud, and several stung my heart. Writing a book is one thing, but finding a home for that book and strangers to love it changes a new author. What did it take for your favorite author to get published? What stood in their way? How did they write the novels you enjoy? I want to know and I hope you do too.

In future columns I’ll be transparent about building a publishing career, showing my own success and failures in detail. I’ll ask my guests to do the same, and maybe this up close view will intrigue you to see what happens to a promising author as he or she tries to emerge from the skeleton pile of hopefuls.

About the Author:

Tricia Skinner writes dark, diverse, dangerous fiction. Her urban fantasy romance series, the Angel Assassins, is her first. She’s represented by Fuse Literary Agency. Trish shares her life with her husband, young son, and three Great Danes.