Hello, all!

I trust you had a wonderful holiday season? Mine was nice. Some years the holidays are spectacular, and sometimes they’re simply nice. I thoroughly enjoyed Christmas and New Years, but a lot of people around me were sick through much of it, and that sort of took some of the joy out of things. Fortunately, I somehow escaped the dreaded plague that… uh… plagued my family.

Getting back into the swing of things after the holidays has been a struggle. I’m sure it’s similar no matter what your job is, but the problem with writing for a living is I MUST be creative; whether I feel creative or not. My cheese and wine supply demand it! 😀

Sometimes there are stories I’d like to write, but I hesitate because I’m not sure they’d be commercial. Believing Rory was one such story. I had to write that book. It felt wonderfully cathartic to write that story. But I feared it wouldn’t be commercial enough because it has a sad undertone. (Fear not, it ends happy!) Fortunately, it sold very well. Believing Rory is still one of my most favorite stories that I’ve ever written. I’ve had many people reach out and tell me how much the book meant to them, which means everything to me. But sometimes writing a book I want to write isn’t as successful. I’ve had a few over the years that I thought would sell great, that just sold okay. I guess not all books can strike all cords with readers, right?

Then there’s the idea of writing to market. Putting words on paper that will satisfy the cravings of the majority of readers. Writing to market is the best way to be sure you can buy that extra-sharp smoked cheddar you’ve had your eye on. I don’t mind writing to market, in fact, sometimes I quite love it. It all depends on the story. And the market. There are some authors who only write to market. They never stray from the beaten path, and some make quite a nice living doing just that. I sometimes wonder if they feel frustrated that they can’t veer off and write stories that maybe they would rather write. Perhaps they love every single book they write. Maybe they do write stories simply for pleasure too, and they do it under a different pen name, or just for their own enjoyment.

I’m not sure I’d be a content author if I ONLY wrote to market. The market often loves things I’m not interested in writing. I’m not really sure I’d want to write a Daddy Kink book, although I have read a few that were wonderfully written. R.J. Moray’s His Boy Next Door Series comes to mind. It’s very well written and not JUST about the kink. I enjoy the relationship between the two main characters. By th way, I’m not judging anyone who adores Daddy Kink, but I don’t know if I’d be any good at writing it. Of course, to be fair, I didn’t think I’d enjoy writing Mpreg either, and I ended up finding it really fun to write. That reminds me, I need to get cracking on the forth book in my Bodyguard and Babies series! 😀

I guess the point of anything we do in life is balance. We need to be sure that, while there are things we must do to put food on the table, we also feed our souls and find joy in our work. That is what will ultimately make us happy; balance.

S.C.

www.scwynne.com