More Questions!

First off, I want to apologize for missing my post the last few weeks. This week marks 35 weeks pregnant and I've been having fun with baby showers and family in town and Memorial Weekend barbecues!

It is officially summer out here which means my husband is off from teaching school for a few weeks until summer school starts. So, between him being home and me being done with deadlines and tons of stuff going on as we get the house ready for a baby, we've been keeping busy in the way that means we're also sleeping in every day. :) I love that! I'm trying so hard to soak up these last few weeks when it's just me and my husband, but at the same time, I can't wait for our little guy to get here. :)

Anyways. Enough of the sappy stuff. :)

Big thanks to BJ for opening up a fabulous forum on here!! I'm going to try my best to answer a couple of questions today. And keep 'em coming!! We love questions!

Is it possible to publish a book without a contract? Like a one time deal?

Yes - it's called self-publishing. Basically, there are two types of publishers - traditional and self-publishers. In a traditional publishing house, they will pay you for your work. In a self-publishing house, you pay them to publish your work (in exchange, they give you an ISBN number). As far as I know, there isn't a contract with self-publishing because it's all based on you - you decide how many copies you want printed and they print them. And then you would be the one selling them.

With traditional publishers, though, there is always going to be a contract. They need your word that you'll finish your manuscript by the deadline. And you need their word that they'll pay you. :)

Is it hard being a full-time writer? Do you struggle a lot with having enough money?

There is a LOT of truth to the saying "starving writer", let me just start with that. :) If you are in this for the money, you might as well direct your attention to a different career because you can definitely make SO much more doing something else! Writing is not a lucrative career. If my husband wasn't working, I wouldn't be able to afford to write full-time.

Some of you say you don't outline when you write a book. Do you make notes about characters beforehand? Do you literally just have an idea and free write?

I'm one of those non-outliners and yes, I usually do have a general idea of characters when I sit down to write. Before writing proposals first became a way of life, I used to literally just sit down and start writing - no notes, no ideas, nothing. And I loved it! There is SO much freedom in that!

Now, I start by writing down a really loose description of the basic plot (and I mean REALLY loose - it's usually about a page or a page and a half). I try not to go into too much detail though - I really love when I get to find out what happens in the story as I'm writing it - it makes it so much more fun for me.

My character notes usually look something like this: Adelaide Warner - 25, single, brown hair, blue eyes, average height/weight, wants to work on a big-budget film but all the job offers she gets are for movies taken with a home video camera.

See? Short, simple. I know a basic plot now (is Adelaide ever going to get to work in Hollywood?) and I also have a mental picture of what she looks like.


Now I have a question for YOU - what is your absolute favorite thing about summer? And how could you work that into a story or article?

Have a great summer day!