The Writer’s Life and #HeroDogs

Sadly, this is not me.
(image copyright by @ konradbak, used with permission)

When I used to imagine what it would be like to be an author, I will confess I focused more on the perceived glamour of being published.

• Book signings with eager readers lined up for miles waiting for a few seconds of my time and my signature on the flyleaf of a book written by ME.
• Interviews on television and radio. Oprah for sure.
• Being eagerly sought by Hollywood for the rights to make my books into movies, which would lead to red carpets premieres.
• Being recognized when I went to conferences…

Yeah, I was delusional. Lol When I first connected with real published authors, they tried to tell me that the Author Life was filled with more hard work than glamour. They downplayed the glamor a lot. Like completely.

Though I suspected they were withholding Important Secrets from me, I soon found out that “hard work” was an understatement. In addition to hard work, there are rejections, bad reviews, a constantly changing market, critiques—did I mention rejections? Authors get rejected a LOT.

I had to learn to find my internal compass to stay the course. My definition of what I wanted from my Author Life began to change as I realized that I came into this business to Tell Stories. That the real glamour is finding the readers who liked my stories, too.

The “glamour” is pretty rare and pretty much doesn’t include anything on that list up there, but I found something better than glamour when I teamed up with Veronica Scott to create Pets in Space and Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2.

I had the chance to work and virtually rub shoulders with some amazing (and actually famous authors) and we also were able to do this amazing thing when Hero Dogs agreed to work with us.

10% of all preorders and the first month’s profits go to Hero-Dogs.org.

What is Hero Dogs you ask?

Hero Dogs raises and trains service dogs and places them free of charge with US Veterans to improve quality of life and restore independence.

It was our deepest privilege to donate a portion of our proceeds last year and a thrill they were willing to work with us again.

I love Carol’s explanation in this video of why Hero Dogs is so amazing:

Are you surprised to learn the real secrets of the not-so-glamorous author’s life? Would you want to be famous?

I love comments so much that I pick a favorite to receive my monthly AnaBanana gift basket ($25 value).  (And don’t forget that once a quarter I’ll be tossing in something fun from the Perilously Fun Shop!) The recipient is announced in the first blog post of the new month.

Perilously yours,

Pauline

Click on the cover to find out where to preorder!

You can claim an Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2 preorder your copysampler right now, but don’t forget to of this limited edition anthology!