If you are a writer hoping to craft a career as an author, you are going to LOVE today’s story. I recently chatted with novelist Tammy Greenwood, who shared with me the harrowing journey to getting her 12th novel published.
She and I last spoke a couple years back, in an interview titled “The “Terrifying Crisis” of Finding the Second Act to Her Writing Career.” Since that time, Tammy released two new books. Today’s story takes us through the process of finding the third act to her writing career.
I encourage you to listen to our conversation here (above or via iTunes), where she takes us step by step through this journey:
- How she wrote a new book that she loved, but which was very different from her previous work.
- How her publisher was not too enthused about it.
- How her agent was not too enthused about it.
- How she ventured out to find a new agent.
- Then to find a new publisher.
- Then to do another major revision of the work. She says: “Ultimately, I did 7 major revisions of this book overall. It was bonkers, I couldn’t believe it was finally done.”
You have to listen to the interview to see how all of this ends!
What I love about Tammy’s story is how it shows the reality of living the life of an author. She concludes:
“Risk is terrifying, but it is critical to finding success as an artist.”
Amongst all of this, we talk about how much she has been working full-time on top of the writing, teaching 7 courses. But she is in transition again, because being an author is a journey. She is scaling back her teaching, with this mission:
“I’m ready to be a writer first.”
You can find my first interview with Tammy from 2015 here: “The “Terrifying Crisis” of Finding the Second Act to Her Writing Career. An Interview with Novelist Tammy Greenwood.”
Tammy’s books on Amazon.
tgreenwood.com
Twitter: @tgwood505
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Dan, this is so exciting! Thanks for sharing, and I’m glad you are doing your podcasts again.
I recently connected with Jennie Nash about a collaborative podcast she is doing with two moms who are aspiring novelists. We’ve had a collective conversation via email about “mom guilt,” which is so akin to juggling a family while pursuing a career as a writer. We’re diving in to all sorts of angles pertaining to writing – beginning the process, finding support and accountability, persevering through the agonizing aspect of editing, and finally, learning how to take your work to the next level of publication and promotion.
What I LOVE is that Jennie, Abby, and Mel are so real about the struggle with balancing the beauty of raising kids while seriously working on their craft. They are all so authentic in the way they convey their experiences. You are doing something very similar here, and that’s why you are actually the only creative professional that I “follow” right now. What you do resonates so much with my vision, goals, and experience.
Thanks again!
That is incredibly generous of you — THANK YOU for sharing all of this!
-Dan