I've been thinking a lot about what I write and why, and who it's for. I'm an author who firmly believes that I have to love what I write. Otherwise, why bother? To make money? Well, I walked away from a really well paying job to pursue this dream, and if cash was the only motivator, I could go back to doing what I did before and be a helluva lot richer.
But there's ego involved in this too. I fully admit to being the type of author who needs to hear readers love her work, and I won't lie--it's been a long awhile since anyone has been clamoring for my next book. Sure, River Hill and Rocky Cove have their fans, but they're quiet and patient fans. If I write another book in either of those series, great. If not, they'll just be over here reading something else. Simply put, these books do not inspire people to beg for the next in the series. And yet ... these are the books I've spent the last two years working on.
On the flip side, you've got my Dublin Rugby series. Maybe it's because I'm one of only a handful of people writing about rugby, but to this day, I still have people reaching out to me on a weekly basis asking for the next one. And the next. Now, no one's shouting it from the Facebook rooftops the way they do some other sports romances, but the fans are there.
The problem for me as an author is I feel very far removed from the world I lived in when I wrote those books. I was so immersed in that world that the words just flowed from my fingertips. I knew the stories as well as I knew my own. But that's not my life anymore. I watch rugby on a tape delay from thousands of miles away, and while I'm still addicted to the sport, the immediacy of a fictional world seems--for me--forced.
Which is maybe why I've turned my attention to small town romance. I live in a small town. They film Hallmark Christmas movies here, for goodness sake. That's the life I know. When I see a handsome fireman talking to a pretty young woman at the holiday bonfire, those are the plot bunny synapses that fire. When the fisherman hauling his catch from his boat to the waiting freezer truck is openly flirting with one of the tourists who stops to watch, I can see their whole book in a flash.
I know there's a market for low-to-medium-stakes romance. I know people want to read about regular folks falling in love without the threat of death or ruin falling at their feet. I just haven't been able to find them. Which all goes back to my first question. Who's it for?