This One is for the Indie Writers!

To be a good writer, they say you have to be a good reader first and find inspiration in stories that move you.  I’ve been a lifelong lover of books and I admit to devouring a few of them a month (and that’s during a slow month).  And, when I started writing my own books, I found tons of inspiration in published authors that weaved stories I felt connected to because they wrote about characters who were just like me,  only thinner, smarter and living in a great one bedroom apartment in the city, one that I could never afford in my lifetime.   I came to know and love such authors as Sophie Kinsella, Emily Griffin and Jane Green, just to name a few, because I found my laugh in between the pages of their novels.

Now that I’ve been an Indie writer for almost a year (it will be  official in May), I have come to know another group of exceptionally talented writers who have taken their dreams of being published and made it happen on their own.  These are people I have come to admire as my colleagues and who understand the struggles (the highs and lows) of being a self-published author.  They are a great support system too (think AA but in this group, we do drink!), forwarding over resources and information, sharing and celebrating in your successes and talking you through (and off the ledge sometimes) the inevitable hiccups happening along the way.

And, more importantly, I have myself become a fan of their writing.  They make me see that it can be done.  You can write a good story and, eventually, someone will read it and like it.

So this blog post is dedicated to all of the Indie authors out there who are working so hard right now at making their dreams become realities.  They are sitting at their desk at home (in the basement, den or bedroom) or at the office and typing away on their computers, writing another chapter of their novel, a few more pages closer to the finish line.  They are up at all hours of the night or get up an hour earlier in the morning to get in some writing.   They breathe, eat and sleep the dream and, in the process, they are giving us some unforgettably good novels.

All I can say is: keep up the good work! I’m proud to be a member of this club.  And, as someone who is a reader first, writer second, I want to say thank you for giving me so many good stories to enjoy!

Erin