Goodreads asked Laura Enright:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Laura Enright Be very sure of what you want from writing. If you want to do it just for fun or to fulfill a need to create, that's fine and you can find some wonderful platforms to publish on line as well as self publishing options for physical books. But if you're hoping to make a career of it, be very aware that you may have to really work at it. As I say, marketing is a full time job in itself. Some people become disillusioned by this and give up. Marketing can actually sometimes be fun (and yes, sometimes it can be a drag). But it's a necessary component to a career in writing. You may also need to, as I put it, step outside your comfort zone, by working with genres you may not have an interest in. Be really open to that cause that can actually turn out to be a lot of fun. My first book Chicago's Most Wanted...came about because I at last decided to try nonfiction, which a friend suggested might be easier to break into. I had no desire to write a nonfiction book, I was trying to get my fiction published, but I guess I realized at that point that you have to start somewhere. So I did and it was a great experience and actually opened up other doors for me in the field of public speaking. My first vampire novel was written not because I wanted to write a vampire novel, but because I was hoping to acquire an agent whose agency represented vampire novels. Long story on how that turned out but the bottom line was I fell in love with the novel and the story and ended up writing more in the series. So don't turn down something simply because you might not be interested in it, especially if you can make money off it an perhaps get your name out there. Consider it a challenge and see what you can do with it. You might end up liking it.

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