Two years ago, I thought it was all over. I believed I could no longer be an author anymore and write about the stories that matter to me. I wondered if there would ever be a day when I would be free to write my books, to publish Christina’s Portrait, and to tell hopeful stories about the new world that emerges from whatever was to come.
That day has arrived, but it didn’t come because of the outcome of an election. It came when I decided I wouldn’t give up.
Writing, even in the best of times, is a difficult and frustrating process. You spend years crafting what you think is your best work, only to get rejection after rejection when you submit it. And when it gets published, you spend more time promoting your work than you ever did crafting it. Even then, you can find your books flatlining at the bottom of Amazon sales rankings. It’s easy to fall for scams that “guarantee” your book will become a bestseller, as we discussed at our Indie Author Day panel. Or you might use AI as a shortcut to create a “surefire” hit.
Or you just stop writing.
A fellow author wrote about her frustrations with publishing and marketing. She concluded that the joy of writing keeps her going. I feel this is true for all of us as writers, at least those of us who’ve stuck with it. If we didn’t write, what else would we do with our time? If we didn’t create, what would our purpose be? And there are the connections we make with other authors, publishers, and readers. Part of the joy that comes from book events, like Indie Author Day, is being a part of a community, spending time with others who share our passions, and sharing our work.
This community is especially important when times are hard.
Things aren’t magically going to get better with the results of one election. Tyrants are their most dangerous when they’ve been wounded. We also face the challenges of a struggling economy, the stranglehold social media and other monopolies have on our society, how AI has crept into our creative spaces, and the impact COVID and remote school have had on the youth literacy rate. But it’s difficult times like these that call for our creativity. We need human-made, handcrafted works that connect with readers. We need authors who don’t just follow popular genres and tropes but dare to create something new and challenging.
Something like Christina’s Portrait.
Today, Christina’s Portrait isn’t just a story I’ve been carrying for 50 years. It’s a novel that will be published on November 25. It will have ARC copies going to reviewers. And now, it has a cover.
Christina’s Portrait shows what you can do when you never give up.
