Karen McCullough is the author of a dozen published
mystery, romantic suspense, and fantasy novels and novellas. She has won
numerous awards, including an Eppie Award for fantasy, and has also been a
four-time Eppie finalist, and a finalist in the Daphne, Prism, Dream Realm,
Rising Star, Lories, Scarlett Letter, and Vixen Awards contests. Her short
fiction has appeared in several anthologies and numerous small press
publications. Learn more about Karen and her books at her website and blog.
My Failure: Setting Realistic Career
Goals (or I’m Still Not a Bestseller!)
Thirty
years ago when I started writing in a serious way, intending to sell my
ramblings, I was young enough and naïve enough to think that if I worked hard
and strived to get better at the writing that in five to ten years I could sell
a novel or three or six to a major publisher and see it become a bestseller.
In fact,
I did sell the sixth complete novel I’d written to Avalon Books in 1989. And I
sold three more to them before my editor left and the new editor wasn’t as
happy with my writing. But I was ready to take on longer, deeper books than
Avalon would publish, so I didn’t feel it was a setback so much as a new
opportunity.
I’d
planned to write a few more romantic suspense novels and was pretty sure that
I’d be able to sell them to a New York publisher. After a while I’d make it to
some bestseller list and I’d be set. At the time that was my main goal.
If I’d
only known much sooner how foolish that was. Too many things are out of my
control and too much luck is involved at every step. Your editor/agent doesn’t
connect with the latest thing you’ve written. As already mentioned, editors change, and they don’t all
have the same taste. Publishers consolidate; they kill lines; they even go out
of business. The things you like to write go out of fashion and publishers
won’t buy it any more. I’ve had all of those things happen to me.
That’s
my failure, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t sometimes sting. I’ve had books published. I’ve gotten
good reviews. I’ve won a fair number of awards and contests. But I’ve never
gotten a five-figure advance for a book, and I’ve never made it to any
best-seller list.
So, I’ve
come to realize that the only thing I can really control is my own work. Now my goals are centered on things
that I can actually make happen. How many pages I’ll try to write in the next
period of time; how many submissions I’ll send out; the schedule for releasing
my backlist; and doing promo for my books.
Wired for Murder
Most of the time, Heather McNeil loves her job
as assistant to the director of the Washington DC Market Show Center. Because
she’s a good listener and even better at solving problems, her boss assigns her
to handle a lot of the day to day issues that arise during the shows, exhibits,
and conferences being held there.
When Heather becomes an unwilling audience to murder and later finds the
body, she’s willing to let the police
take care of it. But she soon learns more than she wanted to know about the
victim and all the people who really didn’t like him very much.
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