Show Me The Money

by Maggie Marr

I've been a writer since I was 8 years old.  I turned in the first chapter of a romance book for a writing project in second grade.  What I knew of romance I must have gleaned from lifting paperbacks from my mom's tbr pile.  In third grade I channeled the voice of the cabin boy of Christopher Columbus, wrote a 'journal' in his voice and won an award.  In sixth grade I channeled the voice of an African American child on a slave ship being forced to come to America and won another award.  All from the mind of a Midwestern white child in upper-middle class suburbia.

Yes, I am a writer.

It took me forever to understand that not everyone hears these voices.  Anyone can become a writer but not everyone hears people telling them stories in their head.  Words, that when I hear them, I must then use my knowledge of craft and my practiced skill to actually turn into a story that someone else will want to read and buy.

It took me nearly as long to understand, and then believe, that people make a living writing.  They do.  I have.  There are good years, there are not so good years, and then there are the Oh My God I Am Going To Be Living In A Box Under An Interstate years.

I began my career without the expectation of making a living.  Writing was a hobby.  A joy.  My love.  My passion. I now expect my writing to pull it's financial weight in my life.  I love when art meets commerce.  I am a populist.  Yes, I love the literary writers.  I read Michael Chabon, Toni Morrison, David Foster Wallace (insert any great writer here because I've probably read them). And while I appreciate their prose, and their craft, and I study how and what they are doing and am often amazed by their talents ... pass me a well-written romance any day.

My career aspiration is to be widely read.  This aspiration isn't just about the money.  This aspiration is also about connecting with people.  Being a part of their lives.  Because a writer, for a reader who loves to read, is a part of your life.  I look forward to when Kristan Higgins next book comes out.  I adore Barbara O'Neal, Sylvia Day, Jane Porter, Megan Crane, and Abbi Glines.  I can't wait to read the latest by Robert Crais, Pete Dexter, and Kelly Hunter.  

I want that.  I want people to want to read my books.  I want a fan base.  I want people waiting and anticipating the release of my next book.  Yes, dare I say it, I want to be wanted.

Pathetic?  Who knows?  Who cares?  I am in my forties and I know who I am and what I want.  I want a long-lasting career as a writer and a career is something that you get paid to do.  I want to hit the list, any list, USA Today, New York Times--I want it.  I want every book I write to be better than the last book I wrote.  I want people to enjoy my books.  I want for every reader who buys my books to think--that was a kick-ass story and money well spent.

For me the proof isn't in the reviews--the proof is in the sales.  So show me the money, any time, because the more people who buy my books, hopefully equates to the more people who have read a book by Maggie Marr and (fingers crossed) means that those readers are anxiously awaiting the next book to come out written by me.

Maggie Marr is an author, attorney, and independent producer.  She is currently showing her readers the money by giving away one $100.00 gift card per month for the next 3 months.  Read about it and enter here.  She is the author of Can't Buy Me Love, Courting Trouble, and the Hollywood Girls Club series.  Hollywood Hit the latest installment in the HGC series comes out November 2013.  The first book in Maggie's New Adult series, Hard Glamour, comes out January 2014.  You can find Maggie on FB, Twitter, and her blog.  She lives and works in LA.