Anya Richards & The Long Haul

Please welcome Anya Richards to the blog today!

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How many times have I said I’m giving up this writing gig? Too many to count. Sales slump? I’m done. Ideas seem silly? It’s over. The words won’t come? Clearly I’ve lost the knack.

Well… I’m still here ain’t I?

The truth is, if you have the need to tell a story, you really can’t give up. The tales bubbling in your head won’t let you. The drive to create won’t let you. But here’s the kicker…

There’s more to it.

Do you know “that guy” or “that girl”? The one who always has everyone around them riveted at parties, as they tell story after story about what they’ve done or heard? They’re storytellers of a type—a kind with a long and glorious history. They’re the troubadours of our time, and long after they’re gone people will say, “Do you remember that story so-and-so used to tell?” But no one will ever be able to tell that story the way they did. No one. And those stories you want to write down? No one will ever be able to tell them the way you can.

Yet, maybe you’re afraid to try. Maybe it’s not something you’ve ever done before and you think, “I may suck at it.”

Well, you might, but can I point something out to you? When you were a baby and tried to walk, I almost guarantee you sucked at it. You fell over, sat on your butt—probably hard—had to grab stuff to stop from tumbling over. Someone held your hands to help you up and give you some balance, but you fell over again once they let you go. Then one day, after stumbling, falling, crying and maybe even bleeding, you started walking on your own. Then you got stronger and, to your parents’ mingled pride and chagrin, started running. You never looked back after that. The same goes for everything we’ve had to learn—how to speak, do mathematics, draw—every- and anything.

So, don’t be afraid. The want is the thing. If you want to write, get started. Maybe you have a natural talent and the book will be awesome, you never know! But if you’re like the rest of us, it’ll need something more—a little help. When I started, people loved the stories themselves, but there were craft problems. I got critiques and took some writing courses and kept at it. I started getting “good’ rejections, those where the editors told me exactly why they wouldn’t acquire the stories, and that told me the areas I still needed to work on. Eventually I got that first “Yes” and I was walking! Twenty-plus yeses later, I still consider myself learning and hopefully growing…

And that leads to my last piece of advice…

Don’t stop. Don’t get stuck. Keep your mind open to the possibilities of growth and change. Keep moving forward instead of staying in one safe or known place. Keep going…and suddenly you’ll find yourself running the writing marathon, and winning.

Multi-published author Anya Richards lives with her husband, youngest kid, a mutt, and two cats that plot world domination one food bowl at a time. The humans support her writing while the animals see her preoccupation as a goad.

Insatiably curious and irreverent, Anya loves history, music, the sea and a good rum punch. To learn more drop by Anya’s website make friends with her on Facebook  or follow her on Twitter.

His seductive rhythm calls to the passionate soul hiding within…

Jane Rollins is anything but plain, but to keep her position as housekeeper to a wealthy family, she is content to hide her beauty behind a dull façade. This deception has become second-nature to her—until dance master Sergio Fontini waltzes into her life.

While the other inhabitants of the house see him as a foreigner and beneath their notice, Jane sees strength, barely leashed power, and an aura of iron control—an irresistible, arousing combination.

Sergio sees through Jane’s disguise to the woman beneath, and the desires in her veiled gaze call to him like the utterly irresistible strains of a beautiful symphony. The circumstances couldn’t be worse, for seducing her will endanger both their livelihoods.

Yet there are lessons he cannot resist teaching her, steps of a dance that crescendos to her final surrender…

Product Warnings

A deliciously seductive Italian unmasks a supposedly respectable Victorian woman and leads her into a lust-filled pas de deux.

Buy Links

Samhain

Bellissima on Amazon Kindle

Bellissima Amazon UK

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Thanks Anya!

I love this advice. There are always, ALWAYS, going to be obstacles and down moments, but if we love the writing, we're going to keep at it! Are you in for the long haul?