Sunday 1 March 2020

Good news and March moans.

As far as I'm concerned Saint David's day is the start of spring – weather is certainly springlike today.
Everywhere you look there's bad news – coronavirus, climate change, politics, flooding and so on – and on the writing front, for many of us, things look pretty bleak as well.
I just read a long interesting article from an American writer saying that only those who have financial support from partners/parents et cetera can afford to write full-time. Writers on the whole, she says, need a second income as the median amount earned is less than four thousand dollars a year.
Four years ago I was making double the amount I'm making now – which is still a livable amount, just – but I would be panicking if I had to rely on it. Fortunately, I have two pensions as well as my writing money.
I don't think of myself as one of the successful ones but having read this article I think that I'm actually doing a lot better than I thought.
I achieved my dream of being a published writer fifteen years ago and now have written around sixty-five books most of which have been published in one way or another.
I write because I want to – that's a luxury, I know. I hope I can keep writing for another decade at least. I would love to see my books in a supermarket/bookshop but doubt that will happen. I don't have the energy or inclination to do the promotional work in marketing that sort of success requires.

Now for the good news: The final book in my first series for Aria Head of Zeus, The Spitfire Girl:Over and Out, is now available on pre order.
Also The Road to Liberation -10 book collection of WW2 books is still at low price of £2.99.

Until next time
best wishes
Fenella J Miller