Friday, October 12, 2012

MY AMBITION TO WRITE—THE RUNAWAY TRAIN TO PUBLICATION




My guest is best selling author, Julie Ann Walker. She looks more like one of those beautiful women who grace the cover of a book rather than the one who wrote it. Julie's degrees are in mathematics, and while I'm sure she's excellent with numbers, it's her flair with words and dialog that grabbed this reader. I thoroughly enjoyed the fresh perspective Julie brings to special ops fiction and a tough group of former military guys, Black Knights Inc, who ride Harleys and get the bad guys. Love these guys! 
Julie talks about her road to publication and the concept of the 10,000 hour rule.

I'm the world's worst when it comes to a touching story involving my journey to publication... 

I hear so many authors speak of their struggles, their setbacks and heartaches, which then makes the tales of their eventual victories so sweet I often find myself sitting on my hands for fear of shooting a crudely impulsive fist in the air.  "Huzzah!  After eight years and ten manuscripts, she finally sold!"  I LOVE those stories.  Everybody does.  Because there's nothing more satisfying than knowing through struggle, dedication, and perseverance, dreams do come true.

But for me, my writing career didn't come upon me after the requisite slog.  Quite the contrary, it was a freight train, barreling down the tracks under its own steam, with me just along for the ride.  Now, I must set you straight if you're getting the impression I'm some sort of prodigy.  For the record... I. Am. Most. Definitely. Not.  It may seem that way when you learn I won contests with the first manuscript I ever seriously submitted, I snagged an agent within two weeks of sending out query letters, and I signed a three-book deal within eight weeks of securing an agent.  But the truth of the matter is, I've written all my life.  Journaling.  Blogging.  I was the senior editor of my school newspaper.  I've been a dedicated pen pal, an amateur poet, and travel writer for my family vacations since I could put pen to paper.   In short, if I could string all those sentences and poems, ruminations and letters together, I'd probably have a catalog of over hundred books. 

So, though it may be true, I didn't suffer through the rejection letters and slush piles.  It's my contention the only reason that's the case is simply because I didn't attempt to publish until I already had hundreds of thousands of words under my belt.  In Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers, he discusses at length the concept of the 10,000 Hours Rule.  Put simply, the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.  And I'm here to tell you, if I haven't written a total of 10,000 hours in my life, I'm pretty darned close. 

Well, then the question becomes, how did I know I was ready for publication?  How did I know I'd practiced enough?  And the answer, as uninspiring and trite as it may sound, is that I didn't.  You see, all my life I considered my writing to be a hobby.  Something I did for my own pleasure and the pleasure of close friends and family.  My degrees are in mathematics, and I was very certain I would spend the rest of my days in the classroom, teaching fresh, young minds the wonders of Algebra and Calculus, the beauty of numbers and patterns and symmetry.  Then the unthinkable happened.  My husband lost his job and we were required to move across the country.  Teaching positions were scarce, and I found myself at loose ends. 

For entertainment, I sat down at my computer and decided to write down the first in a series of stories that'd been banging around in my head for years.  On a whim, I entered that story in a contest and you know the rest...

So, for those of you who dream of being a writer, I have one simple piece of advice.  Write.  Then write some more.  And after that, write some more.  And when you think you've been writing for about 10,000 hours, submit your work to the world.  According to my experience and according to Malcolm Gladwell, by then you should be ready.  See, it's just that simple.  Hahaha!

Thanks to Sia McKye for having me on today.  It was lovely.  Cheers, happy writing,  and happy reading!  

And before I leave you, I have a question... For those of you who love to read books, have you ever considered writing one?        


REV IT UP   BY JULIE ANN WALKER 


BUY: AMAZON, B&N, INDIEBOUND
He Never Misses a Target…

Jake "the Snake" Sommers earned his SEAL codename by striking quickly and quietly - and with lethal force.  That's how he broke Michelle Carter's heart.  It was the only way to keep her safe - from himself.  Four long years later, Jake is determined to get a second chance.  But to steal back into Michelle's loving arms, Jake is going to have to prove he can take things slow.  Real slow...

She Aims to Make Him Beg…

Michelle Carter has never forgiven Jake for being so cliché as to "love her and leave her."  But when her brother, head of the Black Knights elite ops agency, ticks off the wrong mobster, she must do the unimaginable: place her life in Jake's hands.  No matter what they call him, this man is far from cold-blooded.  And once he's wrapped around her heart, he'll never let her go...




Julie Ann Walker is the USA Today and New York Times Bestselling Author of the Black Knights Inc. romantic suspense series. She is prone to spouting movie quotes and song lyrics. She'll never say no to sharing a glass of wine or going for a long walk. She prefers impromptu travel over the scheduled kind, and she takes her coffee with milk. You can find her on her bicycle along the lake shore in Chicago or blasting away at her keyboard, trying to wrangle her capricious imagination into submission. Look for the first two books in her fast-paced series: Hell On Wheels (August 2012) and In Rides Trouble (September 2012). 

For more information, please visit www.julieannwalker.com or follow her on Facebook  and/or Twitter.