Daily Archives: March 22, 2009

Advice to Myself as a Newbie Author

by Shauna Roberts
http://ShaunaRoberts.blogspot.com

Today’s Guest: Linda Wisdom

Linda Wisdom was born and raised in Huntington Beach, California. She majored in Journalism in college then switched her major to Fashion Merchandising when she was told there was no future for her in fiction writing. She held many positions ranging from retail sales to executive secretary in advertising and office manager for a personnel agency.

Her career began when she sold her first two novels to Silhouette Romance on her wedding anniversary in 1979. Since then, she has sold more than seventy novels and one novella to four different publishers. Her books have appeared on various romance and mass market bestseller lists and have been nominated for several Romantic Times awards and Romance Writers of America Rita Award.

She lives with her husband, her spoiled rotten Chihuahua-Yorkie, and an equally spoiled parrot in Murrieta, California.

Several of Linda’s books, including her Hex paranormal series, has been optioned for film and television. Her newest book is Wicked By Any Other Name (Sourcebooks Casablanca), part of the Hex series.

Linda, if you could travel back in time to before you were first published, what advice would you give yourself?

Yes, I would hope I’d listen to my own advice, but that doesn’t always happen. So easy to go your own way and make your own mistakes, even if there’s a chance you won’t have to.

So what would I do?

Of course, when I sold my first two books there was very little information out there for authors. There was no RWA, and you relied heavily on your agent and editor.

I would make sure to have an agent who would look out for my interests and if that person weren’t doing so, then I’d be on the hunt for someone who did.

Learning about the creativity side of writing can be easy and talking to other authors can even help there. But the business side is just as important if not more at times. Back then I could read and understand a contract, but I still didn’t know the ins and outs of publishing contracts. If you don’t understand a clause, ask questions.

The best piece of advice I’ve carried with me since high school is “If you don’t understand something, don’t pretend you do. Ask questions.” And after all these years, I still do.

I would tell myself back then that change is good even if it means venturing into new territory. That I can’t be afraid of the prospect. That I should embrace that new territory as a challenge and just go for it.

I would sit myself down with the talk, “Foremost, this is a business, even if you’re doing what you love. But if you keep on learning and doing what it takes, you’ll have the experience of a lifetime.”

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To learn more about Linda, please visit her Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/lindawisdombooks and and her blog at http://wickedlyromantic.blogspot.com. You can purchase her newest book, Wicked By Any Other Name (Sourcebooks Casablanca), at your local bookstore as well as at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Borders.