...with a little help from my friends... by Cathy Ace

What are the ten most important things you’ve learned in your time as a writer? Both useful and useless?

MOST IMPORTANT: Mum must love my books!
Mum with my latest book - LOVE that the
cover for her phone (knitted by my sister)
matches the book cover colors!

In no specific order my Top Five (not capable of a top ten, sorry!):

I was once told to stop doing it when it stops being fun: THIS WAS NOT HELPFUL.

Why? However much you love doing something, and however ultimately satisfying doing it might be, there are always parts of the process that are far from fun. My writing is my working life, it’s how I pay bills, so – yes – I’ll work through the “not fun” parts until I get the job done. This isn’t my hobby and, even if it were, I know that people with hobbies find there are unpleasant bits, and they don’t give up, either. So I suck up the not fun, and get on with the job.

I was told to focus on being a writer – the rest of it isn’t important: THIS WAS ALSO NOT HELPFUL

My writing is my livelihood, so not understanding the way the publishing business works isn’t going to be helpful. If I made jewellry for a living, wouldn’t you think it would be helpful to understand what people want to wear, where they want to be able to get their hands on it, and how the links between me making it and them wearing it work? It’s the same with writing: I spent years building my understanding of how the business works, which allowed me to see that there were options available to me I hadn’t even dreamed would be as good as working with traditional publishers…until I understood the way traditional publishers work. Writing is either the business you’re in, or it’s your hobby. It can’t be both. Making a decision one way or the other is the best thing to do, and neither is wrong.

I was encouraged to write from the heart…to write what I want: SOMETIMES HELPFUL, WITH CAVEATS

As I reader I am more than passingly familiar with the fact that when I see the cover and title of a book, then read the blurb, I am in the process of forming a set of expectations about what sort of journey that book will take me on, and what sort of companions I’ll be making the trip with. If readers have expectations (which we all do), then writers need to understand them – even if, as creators, we then choose to subvert those expectations. So, no, I don’t think it’s good advice to “just” write what you want, I think it’s better advice to write what the reader wants – if you want to sell books, that is. And this does allow for “surprising the reader”, by the way. That being said, the writer has the opportunity to write HOW they want WHENEVER they want – these books are called “passion projects” and usually don’t pay the bills, but give great satisfaction to the writer in other ways: it’s about balance in one’s creative life.

I was told I should have a schedule for my writing: HELPFUL, WITH CAVEATS

I cannot write my works of fiction every day. No daily/weekly word count glowering down at me, weighing me down with guilt. No number of hours at the keyboard every day, or week. BUT…scheduling my writing time across the year is something I find helpful – and it allows me to book my editors’ time across the year, too.

I was told I should understand my process: HELPFUL, WITH CAVEATS

Until you’ve tried a few different ways to write, you really don’t know what works for you, so – yes – try different approaches. If a daily wordcount/hours schedule suits you and your life, do that…if not doing it works for you, do that. BUT once you understand what works for you, don’t let the voices of others who poo-poo your process sway you. I write fast – I always did, it’s just that my traditional publishers didn’t know that.

Something I wish I'd known when I started out, that no one told me: being with fellow authors is one of the most rewarding things you can do, so try to do that whenever possible. You might not actually talk about writing, but you can enjoy something just as valuable...quiet times with people who know the pain and pleasure that being an author means!

I hope you'll consider trying my books! You can find out all about them at my website: https://www.cathyace.com/