Writing Detours

2015/April by Marji Laine 7 Comments

Have you ever started out in a direction only to find that you had to go in a totally different direction to get where you wanted to go?

That happened to me last week. I swear, Dallas is just one big ole hairy mass of road construction! And anyone living here or visiting for more than five minutes will agree with me.

So last week, I was picking up my daughters at a volleyball practice. This is my twins’ 5th year to play and for all of them, there has been construction along I-635, a major artery around Dallas that passes near their gym. Well, spring practices have geared up. I was certain the builders had finally passed this area. They’d been crawling by for 5 years. Even a turtle will move quicker than that.

As I took the exit to move from the Dallas North Tollway onto the interstate, a police cruiser sat across the entrance ramp. No explanation. And no, there hadn’t been an accident. The ramp was scheduled to be closed in two hours, so I guess they decided to shut it down and get started early. Only with no warning, it put me going the exact opposite direction, returning the way I came for over a mile before I could exit and find another route to the gym.

It wasn’t really a big deal, but it forced me to think harder and work out an alternative, a clever one at that, which would avoid the pitfalls that I’d already gone through.

I’m finding that I’m beginning to do that in my writing career as well. When I began, my goal was twofold: to help my family finances, and to put the stories that the Lord had given me into the hands of readers. At the time I began, that meant publication through traditional avenues.

Today, however, authors are able to do so much more than rely on traditional publishers. Many highly successful novelists have published their own books independently. These hybrid and indie pubbed authors are showing all sorts of success. So while it’s not the way I expected to do things, I am taking my first solo flight!

My debut, a romantic suspense novella will be available in a couple of weeks as an e-book at Amazon. It is the first of four books.

I’m so excited, I could … well … last time I was this excited was when I was contracted by my agent. Had to go get a new computer because I broke the screen. I COULD do that again, but I think I’d rather squee and dance a jig!

You’ll be hearing more about this book!

Your turn: When was the last time you were so excited you couldn’t contain it?