The Most Important Word — Particularly For An Unpublished Author

These days I have three books out and three more in the works, along with essays and stories in various publications, many which I’m proud of, working with editors I adore.

This hasn’t come easily, at all. If you’re working towards publication though perhaps having trouble finding those outlets, I’m here to cheer you on.

Before I really started writing, when I was only intermittently throwing a few words down on the page and drafting the occasional poem or story, I had the good fortune of meeting a prolific science fiction legend, author Connie Willis.

Connie Willis gave me a few pointers. She offered some thoughts on sentences and story structure. Along with her craft suggestions, there was one word which she used that has fueled my vision and my career ever since, which has helped me keep going, even in the years before my first book deal, and in the lulls between publications.

One word.

I spent most of ten years learning how to write my first novel. I wrote it one way, then re-wrote it in an entirely different approach, then re-wrote it, re-envisioned it, again. I wrote three books, essentially, in order to write one book. I was also working, sometimes at multiple jobs, and parenting. The literary world is cluttered with…