Top Ten Things Authors Worry About

I am indebted to  Deborah Riley-Magnus, self confessed’ Writeaholic’,  for this excellent guest Top 10.

You can check out  Deborah in the following places,

She Blogs - rileymagnus.wordpress.com

She writes - deborahriley-magnus.com

She plays - whispersofthemuse.org

She Tweets – twitter.com/rileymagnus

Give her a try, I am sure you will like what you see.

I am sure all you writers out there will empathise with her thoughts.

When I was asked to guest write a Top 10 here at the Top 10 Blog, I went through an entire anxiety attack, including palpitations, copious sweat, blurred vision, itchy hives, the works. What did I really have for a Top 10 list? All I do is sit at my wonderful home office and write, write, write. Seventy percent of the time I write fiction, the remaining thirty percent, I write press releases and marketing plans for my clients (also writers and authors building a career). What did I really know that could grab the interest of Top 10 list lovers?

I’m fairly new in Los Angeles, so I honestly don’t have a clear vision about the strangeness of this place, although my Top 10 Idiosyncrasies of Los Angelinos idea might be kind of interesting. But then again, this Pittsburgh Pennsylvania native may have a slanted point of view that could instigate road rage before road rage season even starts.

I then explored the fact that people love to eat and I had spent some time as a chef, so I considered writing Top 10 Favorite Pasta Shapes … but who really cares?

Finally I realized that I do have a Top 10 subject that could really tickle people’s fancy. If you’re not a writer or an author, you probably have no idea what goes through a writer’s head. I, on the other hand, as a writer and an author success coach/publicity consultant for authors, am privy to quite a lot. This should be entertaining, so here we go …

TOP 10 THINGS AUTHOR’S WORRY ABOUT

10) Is the toilet clogged again? Nothing distracts a creative train of thought like a malfunctioning toilet. An author has a deadline, she has a social life and she probably has kids, a dog, a spouse and company coming this weekend, the last thing she needs to do is locate a plumber!

9) Have I used that character before? Was it in the sex scene or in the barn with the mutating zombie cow? Was it in this book, or that other series that didn’t sell? I wonder if anyone remembers. Hate when that happens!

8) What shall I name this dude? Names are an issue sometimes for writers, and often you’ll find that the character names get more elaborate or simple as the story or book series continues. Where do authors get all those names? Shall I confess how many times I’ve used my mailman or a past boss’ name for a character? Nah, I’ll save that for another Top 10.

7) Will my readers think I’m crazy like my main character? Not touching that with a ten foot pole.

6) Are there too many vampire novels out there? A question best left to the author’s agent and his analysis of the market. Methinks the readers are happy to say when they’ve had their fill of bloodsucking heroes and villains, so write on.

5) Am I writing the next Great American Novel, or do I really have the flu? Take two Advil and reevaluate in the morning.

4) What will happen if I just kill my main character? She’s such a pain in the butt. Honestly, if a writer says she hasn’t considered this at least once in her career, she’s lying.

3) What if I don’t write any more words? Who says a novel has to have between 70,000 and 100,000 words? My story is perfect with 30,000! Will the publisher contract police come and take me away? Um … yes.

2) Is it ITS or IT’S? And why does it suddenly look like THE is spelled wrong? Time to step away from the keyboard.

1) Mmmmm, lookit that plumber! I wonder if he’d make a good protagonist for my next book? I wonder if he’d like an iced tea or beer or … And so it continues.

Many thanks go to Deborah for a fantastic, thoughtful post.