Is writing your passion or your pastime?

This is difficult question for me to answer.


Writing started out as a pastime for me. As some of you may know, I began writing when I was living in Japan in 1997 because I couldn't find books to read that were written in English. I started writing just to have something to read. Therefore it was a pastime.

Later on into the writing game, writing became a passion for me. I had to do it. I WANTED to do it. I felt like after many years of searching for who I was, I discovered that I was a WRITER.

Then I got into the business end of things. I stumbled into the publishing field kind of by accident without thinking it through. It all began when Katy Walls and I joined forces and began GAP, Inc. (Global Authors Publications, Inc.), a co-op publishing house. I really enjoyed co-running GAP. It was fun. I learned a LOT about the publishing business through GAP. Then the Patriot Act put an end to that.

I started Star Publish LLC after that and built it up from scratch all by myself without a partner to bounce things off of and share the responsiblities. I ran Star for over 4 years. Even if I do say so myself, I think Star is a very successful publishing model and I am proud that I am the one who started it all and made it successful. And I am equally thankful to TC McMullen for carrying it on and very successfully at that after I walked away from it.

However being in the publishing end of things turned me off to writing my own stuff. I was too much concentrated on the business end of things to want to write, or to have time to write. The business consumed my life with little time left over for me, myself, and I. I loved the publishing end of things. I loved helping other authors get their work out there.

However, I missed writing. I missed having a life. Therefore I sold Star to TC and got out of the publishing business. This was an extremely difficult decision for me to make but I made it in the best interest for myself and my sanity and for my life with my husband,

You might as well say I took a 5+ year break from writing because of my involvement in the publishing side of it.

It took me a long time after I sold Star to TC to get back to where I could write again. I just completed my MS, Second Chances, and sent it off to Star for publication. I wrote this book in less than 5 months, a record for me.

However, I am not fully back to the PASSION side of writing yet. I am in the pastime phase. But I feel the PASSION for writing coming back to me.