A Goodreads user
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Laura Thalassa:
Hi! Holy smokes, I genuinely cannot express just how much your books have totally rocked my world. I've gotten to a point where I'm exceptionally picky with what I end up enjoying and your books just lit my soul on fire. I think I may be in love, lol. Anyways, I'm a younger aspiring writer and I was just curious about your own story? What's your inspiration and when did you first get into writing?
Laura Thalassa
Um, okay, your words have completely made my week! <3 And congrats on the writing!!!
Okay, I'll try to keep my answer relatively short (not a novelist's strength ...). I fell in love with reading as a pre-teen, and all through junior high and high school, that was my obsession. Didn't really imagine I'd ever become a writer, though I just loved stories. Went to college, majored in Anthropology (emphasis on Archaeology) because I loved history and culture and learning about the what, why and how of people's beliefs. But ... then I thought I should do something practical, so I tried my hand at law school. (Spoiler alert: I didn't last a year!) I dropped out, started my own editing company, and somewhere in there I wrote my first book (one that had been picking at me since college). I thought it was hot trash, but at some point I decided that if I could edit other people's stories, surely mine wasn't beyond fixing? So I edited it and edited it and edited it. And eventually I released it, and it didn't do half bad. It was no instant success--nor was the second book I released ... or the third, but I slowly built a following. And that's how I got here, to this point. (No fancy marketing strategy behind it all--just really awesome fans who pass along my books through word of mouth.)
Biggest thing I can tell you about writing is this: don't believe your worst critic and don't believe your biggest fan. Whatever you're working on, it's worth something, but you also always have room to grow (which is good news!).
Oh, and one more thing--a career in writing is like trekking through mountains. You'll have your peaks ... and your valleys. None of it matters so long as you enjoy the journey.
Keep that soul of yours on fire--that magic is the best part of it all. And I hope you stay in love with stories (yours most of all)! Best of luck!
Okay, I'll try to keep my answer relatively short (not a novelist's strength ...). I fell in love with reading as a pre-teen, and all through junior high and high school, that was my obsession. Didn't really imagine I'd ever become a writer, though I just loved stories. Went to college, majored in Anthropology (emphasis on Archaeology) because I loved history and culture and learning about the what, why and how of people's beliefs. But ... then I thought I should do something practical, so I tried my hand at law school. (Spoiler alert: I didn't last a year!) I dropped out, started my own editing company, and somewhere in there I wrote my first book (one that had been picking at me since college). I thought it was hot trash, but at some point I decided that if I could edit other people's stories, surely mine wasn't beyond fixing? So I edited it and edited it and edited it. And eventually I released it, and it didn't do half bad. It was no instant success--nor was the second book I released ... or the third, but I slowly built a following. And that's how I got here, to this point. (No fancy marketing strategy behind it all--just really awesome fans who pass along my books through word of mouth.)
Biggest thing I can tell you about writing is this: don't believe your worst critic and don't believe your biggest fan. Whatever you're working on, it's worth something, but you also always have room to grow (which is good news!).
Oh, and one more thing--a career in writing is like trekking through mountains. You'll have your peaks ... and your valleys. None of it matters so long as you enjoy the journey.
Keep that soul of yours on fire--that magic is the best part of it all. And I hope you stay in love with stories (yours most of all)! Best of luck!
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