I was just doing my morning blog reads. I don’t check out very many because my eyes do not like to read on the internet, but I do stop by Editorial Anonymous on occasion and there was a post there this morning from someone just getting started. From the post, I couldn’t tell if the writer actually had written anything, or just had ideas, but they wanted to know, “Where do I start?”

I was happy to see that there were 44 comments from people willing to help. Quite honestly, the thought of being that fresh in the business made me heave a heavy sigh and think, “Oh, gosh. This person does not want to hear my advice, for sure!”

That’s because my advice is…find a nice boy, get a good job, have some babies, write short stories for your kids, volunteer in their classrooms, read books on the weekend for fun, take walks and family vacations, and run as far away from writing/publishing as you can! Run far, far away! It will only bring you heartache!

Of course, I only sort of believe that. I personally, would not have any other life! But I did meet my husband in the kitchen to refill our coffee cups a minute ago and we had a good laugh over the run away advice. He is a musician. The real deal…CDs, radio, record deal, etc. which means he’s gone through many similar trials and tribulations that I have with writing/publishing. We both agreed that we would not change anything, and we’re very happy that we chose these paths, but honestly, if someone had told us upfront what we would have to go through to get where we are…well…the run away advice would’ve been quite tempting.

I often meet people who are amazed by the fact that we’re both professional artists and that we live such exotic (their words, not ours!) and creative lives. However, I’m here to say that every artist I know also envies people with normal lives, families, and yes, health insurance.