What advice would you give an aspiring author?  

Work hard.  Stay focused.  Be committed.  Don’t think that you’re going to hit it rich, and don’t write for the money.  Write because you love to write, not because you think you’re going to get rich.  Give each book you write all that you’ve got in you and more.  Put out a quality product.  There’s too much competition out there. If you don’t put out a good quality novel, if your novel is just marginal, you’re not going to make it.  You may have to take some writing classes or workshops to fine tune your skills or pick up some new ones, but if you’re serious you’ll do it.  Don’t get discouraged.  It’s not easy.  There are a lot of rejections and a lot of challenges of being an author, more so if you’re an indie author.  So, give it your best, keep working hard, dedicate yourself to it, but have a back-up plan so you don’t end up a starving artist.  And most importantly, don’t give up.  It may take a while to get established, so keep working at it, stay dedicated, and don’t give up.

This Lady Writes