I read another book!

I didn't manage to read to the end of two books in the month of June, as I'd resolved, but this morning I turned the last page of Writer Mama:  How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids by Christina Katz.  Writer Mama is a pretty good book, a focused program for building a career as a non-fiction writer in whatever time you can snatch from the daily round of child-rearing and housekeeping.  It advises starting out small, with short articles and local publications, then building up to the better-paying markets and feature writing, followed by the possibility of a non-fiction book deal.  

I could do this, I really could. I know what to write, how to query, and where to send it.  The trouble with Chirstina Katz's program is that non-fiction doesn't really fire me up. I might write an article here and there, but I always feel like it's a distraction from my serious work, fiction. The trouble with fiction is that the career path of a novelist is formula-resistant.  Authors sometimes land book deals with lots of short story publications under their belts, but writing short stories and writing novels don't always go together.  

So, having formulated a plan to get myself started on freelance journalism, I am turning back to fiction.  Financially, it's probably a self-destructive impulse, but I can't be sure until I've done it all over again, the writing and rewriting, the critiques and query letters.  If I don't hit the mark this time, I might give it up.  I said that last year, too.  I'm starting to suspect that giving up on this fantasy fiction series is not in the cards.

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