Ask the Author: Martha Hix
Answered Questions (5)
Martha Hix
You've got it on the prayer for the short story!
Martha Hix
Hi, Ann! I'm up in the Hill Country, in Kerrville for 12 years. I finished the #TexanBrides series, but now I can't decide what to do next, but it better be soon and it better be CRAZY (for today's market). Have a partly finished time travel...hmm. I was in Costco the other day, and they were selling boxes of Trojans--70 to a box. I told my cousin, "I wish I had a need for these. Maybe I should write a book about an old gal like me and call it '70 Trojans.'" I'm still thinking about that. Recently bought one of your books but haven't started it yet. It's NEXT in the TBR. You know you've always been one of my favorite authors!
Martha Hix
Seek wise counsel. The smartest thing I ever did was make friends with a master at characterization, Barbara Catlin. She helped me understand that stories were more than plots. Soon, we were writing as a team, and we were published in no time. Really.
It wasn’t snap your fingers. We had a lot to learn. We taught each other, listening to each other. We did seek wise counsel. We were fortunate to live in an area ripe with talent, San Antonio, Texas. We were also blessed to share lunches and evening meetings with several writers, including half of a published team. We shamelessly picked her brain about the business of writing.
It helped to form a circle of writers, even after we were published. One member of my particular group was an unforgettable force of nature. She forged a name for herself as a romance writer, while amassing a following as a teacher of the craft. She was Emma Merritt.
Guess what. We became close friends. Emma mentored me. Many was the time when I would load into Emma’s red van, with her husband Paul at the helm, and we’d sail off to this writer conference or another, where the Grand Dame herself would hold court. Eventually, she became President of Romance Writers of America. She was absolutely magnificent.
And there were many more people who had a lot to say, and I listened.
It was by a crazy quirk that I received William Johnstone’s room reservation by mistake for a convention. I called the guy. In those pre-Internet days, one didn’t want to be without a room! Thus began a friendship between Bill, his cloak-and-dagger pal Martin, my bud Evelyn Rogers, yours truly, and a bunch of other crazies. We learned all kinds of aspects to this business.
And then there were the editors and agents. Any time a writer got to pick their brains, it was a good idea to do so.
Of course, a person has to weigh what goes in the ear. Does it have value? If it’s not good advice, move on. If it makes sense, be thankful. However, this does NOT mean pester someone, or hang on after you’ve worn out your welcome. Now here’s the biggie. Be reticent about asking someone to read your work. As for myself, for instance, I really, really don’t like to read a friend’s manuscript. Why? What if I don’t like it? Do you want me to tell you your baby is ugly?
I know I don’t want that, and besides, maybe I’m the only person who thinks Little Eutaw is, well, odd.
So…just listen, be nice. Be a friend. Separate the wheat from the chaff. Be friendly, and be a mentor when it’s your turn. And I’ll leave you with Emma’s #1 piece of advice. “Attach your backside to your computer chair, and stay there.”
It wasn’t snap your fingers. We had a lot to learn. We taught each other, listening to each other. We did seek wise counsel. We were fortunate to live in an area ripe with talent, San Antonio, Texas. We were also blessed to share lunches and evening meetings with several writers, including half of a published team. We shamelessly picked her brain about the business of writing.
It helped to form a circle of writers, even after we were published. One member of my particular group was an unforgettable force of nature. She forged a name for herself as a romance writer, while amassing a following as a teacher of the craft. She was Emma Merritt.
Guess what. We became close friends. Emma mentored me. Many was the time when I would load into Emma’s red van, with her husband Paul at the helm, and we’d sail off to this writer conference or another, where the Grand Dame herself would hold court. Eventually, she became President of Romance Writers of America. She was absolutely magnificent.
And there were many more people who had a lot to say, and I listened.
It was by a crazy quirk that I received William Johnstone’s room reservation by mistake for a convention. I called the guy. In those pre-Internet days, one didn’t want to be without a room! Thus began a friendship between Bill, his cloak-and-dagger pal Martin, my bud Evelyn Rogers, yours truly, and a bunch of other crazies. We learned all kinds of aspects to this business.
And then there were the editors and agents. Any time a writer got to pick their brains, it was a good idea to do so.
Of course, a person has to weigh what goes in the ear. Does it have value? If it’s not good advice, move on. If it makes sense, be thankful. However, this does NOT mean pester someone, or hang on after you’ve worn out your welcome. Now here’s the biggie. Be reticent about asking someone to read your work. As for myself, for instance, I really, really don’t like to read a friend’s manuscript. Why? What if I don’t like it? Do you want me to tell you your baby is ugly?
I know I don’t want that, and besides, maybe I’m the only person who thinks Little Eutaw is, well, odd.
So…just listen, be nice. Be a friend. Separate the wheat from the chaff. Be friendly, and be a mentor when it’s your turn. And I’ll leave you with Emma’s #1 piece of advice. “Attach your backside to your computer chair, and stay there.”
Martha Hix
I create the world, and I get to be the boss!
Martha Hix
The third in the #TEXANBRIDES series. This one is HOT. Grant Kincaid wins Patience Sweet in a poker game. He figures to save her from her disgusting stepbrother and help her make a decent start, but she ends up in Grant's bed by the end of Chapter 1. Not how he figured to find a bride, but she ends up being the perfect person for this Lubbock lawyer in the OIL finish to this trilogy.
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