secret behind the writer's spirit

When people ask me what I do, I tell them I'm a publisher. They follow up with "Wow. What made you want to do that?" I have a variety of short answers that I give because these conversations often take place in the middle of the checkout line. But for those of you who are really interested in what pushes me forward, the answer isn't quite as simple as "I love books."

First of all, I really do love books. Growing up, we didn't have cable. We literally had 5 channels: PBS, CBS, ABC, Fox, and NBC. There were certain times during the day that there just wasn't anything on that a little kid would want to watch. It was news or soap operas. I wasn't allowed to watch soap operas and the news was boring for me. My mother's solution was to give us books. We spent almost every saturday bouncing between the bookstore and the public library.

My problem was that sometimes I would read a story and I didn't like the way it ended. Maybe the princess ended up with the prince when I felt she should have ended up with the young forest hero. Or maybe I thought that the forest hero should have been the star of the book instead of the prince or ogre or whatever. In my head I would write my own endings or mentally change the parts of the story I didn't agree with. A good example of this is a notebook full of Sailor Moon fanfiction that I was once absorbed in. [Ah, youth. :)]

My first real experience with writing was the school writing fair. It was an annual event that all grades could compete in. My first win was with my kindergarten story about a bear who climbed a mountain to find a fish. That story was about 5 sentences. I entered the competition every year with a new and much longer story. Each year we learned new skills: paragraphs, dialogue, how to revise, why you shouldn't start every sentence with 'the' or mark all conversation with the word 'said'.

As an adult, I often get jaded with the process of revising and crafting page layouts and seeking out cover art that properly fits each book. However, if I think back to that first writing fair (and I often do) I quickly remember writing for the fun of it. And I still do. That love of creating a new story is what pushes me even now.

Many people find writing difficult or consider it to be work. But I don't. I have a blast putting words onto paper and laying my ideas out there for others to see. Sometimes I get stressed out when I'm in the midst of research for a story, and that can be tiring. However, once I start writing the story, I forget all the negative feelings and I quickly get absorbed in the pleasure of writing.