Romance
writer
Jennifer
Probst has written more than a score of published books. In Write Naked, she shares her experiences,
both successes and mistakes, of building her career as a professional writer.
Probst was not an immediate success. She wrote six books before writing
one that was published. One of the lessons of the book is that it takes
persistence, time and effort to develop you skill
and find a place for your work. Even after writing successful books, the book
you’re working on can be a struggle; Probst confesses to finding challenges in
writing her most recent books.
Success itself can be a challenge. When she finally made it, she made
it big, with a large sale and a book that hit the bestseller lists. After that,
the pressure was on. She felt the expectations of her editor and readers to
produce another hit that they would love. The pressure to meet those
expectations made the next book much harder. It was successful, but not as
successful, which she found very disappointing. She points out the reality that
you won’t hit a home run every time you step up to the plate, but a base hit is
still a success.
I admit that I’m not a fan of romance. However, I am a bit in awe of
the ability to many successful romance writers to produce. They turn out books
and their books sell. This requires work—they have to get it done. Probst’s
advice includes dealing with that aspect of writing. She treats it as her business.
She writes every day. She sets goals. She creates
deadlines (or gets them from her editor) and meets them. She sets aside time to
promote her books and interact with readers. She also says no to things that
don’t fit her life and career as a writer so her time and energy isn’t drained
away from where it is needed.
Some might thing Probst’s revelation of her experience takes some of
the romance out of writing. Of course, whether it is romantic or not, there are
realities to making a career of writing. An aspiring writer will need to deal
with it.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Probst, Jennifer. Write Naked: A
Bestseller’s Guide to Writing Romance and Navigating the Path to Success. Cincinnati: Writer’s
Digest Books, 2017.
