Ah yes, that question. “Why do you write?”
It’s one of those that gets asked a lot—especially in writing forums, interviews, and on the back covers of literary memoirs, usually printed in italics for some reason. It can feel a bit… woo-woo. As if the answer should be sacred and profound. (“Because the Muse demands it, obviously.”)
But the truth? Your “why” is probably a lot more practical, changeable, and occasionally downright grubby than the question makes it sound.
There’s something about a good mystery that just gets under your skin, isn’t there? The kind that makes you sit up a little straighter when it shows up in a documentary at 11:30 p.m. and suddenly you have to know what happened. Amelia Earhart is one of those mysteries. Maybe the mystery.
So, shiny new laptop in hand, I reinstalled all my software. And, of course, Microsoft Word came back with all its default bells and whistles cheerfully intact—including the dreaded live spelling and grammar check. Outlook, OneNote, the rest of the MS Office gang… same story.
Online editing tools weren’t far behind, either. And if you’ve got a grammar extension active while you’re writing in a browser, you’ll get treated to an assault of blue double-underscores that scream “BAD GRAMMAR!” like a judgy primary school teacher.
Have you ever been curled up with a romantic suspense novel, flipping pages like your life depended on it, and paused just long enough to wonder, Wait, do all bullets do the same thing? No? Just me?
Ever feel like a fraud? Like you’re just pretending to be a writer until someone finds out you’re not legit? Or maybe you keep calling yourself lazy, undisciplined, or “just not that good.”
Yeah. You’re not alone.
Imagine strolling along a beach, hand in hand with your love, the salty breeze curling around you, the sun dipping low on the horizon. Romantic, right? Now, imagine bending down, picking up an old glass bottle, and discovering a 132-year-old message inside.
I’ve spent the last couple of posts being pretty firm about the importance of doing the work. In Hauling the Bricks and The Indie Author’s Scam Survival Guide, we talked about how there’s no magic shortcut—just putting in the effort, day after day, is what gets you there.
I’m pretty open these days about the fact that Cameron Cooper is a pen name. But that wasn’t always the case.
There are a lot of great habits out there—exercise, eating well, getting enough sleep—but let’s be honest: nothing feels quite as good as curling up with a great book and getting lost in a story. And here’s the best part: it turns out that reading isn’t just a fantastic escape—it’s actually good for you.
Indie publishing is booming, which means writers have more control over their careers than ever before. But with opportunity comes risk—and scammers are circling like sharks in a feeding frenzy.
Every year, new scams pop up, often just repackaged versions of old ones, designed to prey on authors who are still figuring out the publishing game. Because while anyone can write a book, successfully publishing and selling one is much harder. That gap—between the dream and the reality—is where the scammers strike.
Let’s talk about how to spot them, avoid them, and protect yourself.
