Karen Miller is the author of the "Kingmaker, Kingbreaker" and "Godspeaker" series of fantasy novels. Back in March she spoke to the "Blogging the Muse" weblog.
TH: It has been said that a writers, each time they achieve one goal, such as publication, simply trade up to a succession of new sets of problems. At this stage in your writing career, how do your concerns differ from when you were just starting out?
KM: Well, being an aspiring author is in fact quite a simple, uncomplicated thing. All your energy is focused on getting the nod. That's not to say it isn't hard, because it is. It's hard, it's often disheartening and painful. But there's a clarity of purpose to it. So before I was published, all I thought about was: Will I ever be good enough for someone to say yes?
Then someone said yes, you're good enough, and that was mindblowing and wonderful and actually very empowering. As a result, here are the things I worry about now, in no particular order:
Have I got complacent? Am I repeating myself? Can I make my next deadline? Is this book an improvement on the last one? Will I disappoint my existing readers? Will I find new readers? Am I justifying my publishers' faith in me? Can I deliver what I told them I can deliver? Should I be thinking about the next potential project? How long will it be before I can't think of anything new to say? Should I be doing more blogging and stuff? Is there really a bias against women writers in spec fic or am I losing my mind? My new book's coming out -- is it going to bomb? Will everybody hate it? Will it finish my career? People are going through tough times, does that mean my life as a full time writer is over?
I have no idea if other writers worry about this stuff. I only know that I do, and sometimes I feel quite overwhelmed.
