Elaine Faber, Guest Author

This week Elaine Faber is my guest author. I’ve always said that a blog is a good showcase for an author’s writing style. Such is the case this week. I think you’ll enjoy reading what Elaine has to say. Welcome, Elaine!

Why Do Writers Write?

I’ll bet if 100 people were queried, at least 75% of them would claim that someday they plan to write a book, most likely a memoir. The remaining 25% likely would admit, humbly, that even though they may never get around to it, and the world will be the lesser for it, deprived of reading about their fascinating lives, they could if they wanted to. The thousands of hours required to write, edit and format a book for publication never enters into the equation. Yet a frightening number of us do spend the time and energy, and a zillion books DO get published every year. Most of them get posted up for sale on Amazon where they are buried as deep as a sticker in a cow plop among the other millions of Amazon books for sale. Occasionally, one actually sells!

Now, instead of becoming a writer, where was I when someone got the bright idea of creating a website where anybody could sell his book, and the website would earn more on the sale of the book than the publisher and the author combined. What a concept! I was probably standing behind the same door when someone said, ‘Do you want to invest in this driving-sleeping thingy we’re calling Winnebago? 

Now, I’ve become one of those people who decided there was a book in me that the world would be the lesser for, did they not delve into its pages. After about a skillion hours of writing, rewriting, editing, mentoring, and more rewriting, my novel was finally completed, formatted, published and made available for sale to the millions of folks clamoring to be amused, entertained, charmed and delighted by my scintillating characters. I called this cozy mystery-romance Black Cat’s Legacy. 

In this yet to become a New York Times Best Seller, there is even a nonplused cat who knows where the bodies are buried. He wants desperately to share his knowledge with the inferior humans who are either too busy running afoul of the antagonist, or preoccupied with trying to solve a 25 year old murder without sullying anyone’s good name…good luck with that… Well, it’s quite a ride involving jealousy, greed, unrequited love, a smattering of downright stinkerisms and a cat that is appalled that these no-good-niks can’t understand a clue when he puts it right under their inferior noses. And yes, it’s available on Amazon in e-book for only $3.99. 

So, why do I write when the hours are long, the glory is nonexistent and the financial rewards are few and far between? 

I guess I write, because these characters are in me, screaming to get out and even if I don’t have a Best-Seller, many of those good folks who have read Black Cat’s Legacy come back and tell me about their reading experience. For just a little while, they could leave their own troubles behind, travel to a little resort town and experience my make-believe world where the good guy wins. For a few hours, they frolicked through the pages with a cat determined to help Kimberlee solve her father’s cold case murder. Then they tell me how much they loved it and ask, “When is the sequel coming out?” 

That’s when I know. That’s why I write. That’s why it’s all worth it.

 

Bio:

Elaine Faber is a member of Sisters In Crime, California Cat Writers, and Inspire Christian Writers where she volunteers as an editor for their annual anthology. Her stories have appeared in multiple magazines and anthologies.

Elaine enjoys talking about her debut novel, Black Cat’s Legacy, on mystery panels and at book signing events. The sequel, Black Cat and the Lethal Lawyer, featuring Thumper, a cat that plays ‘cat and mouse with murder’ will be published in the fall.

Elaine is currently putting the finishing touches on a WWII novel, where Ms. Agnes Odboddy, an eccentric widow woman fights the war from the home front. She gets involved with a missing fortune from Hawaii, a casket company, six roosters and an old lover from her past.

Find more of Elaine’s stories on Facebook and at  www.mindcandymysteries.com

CLICK HERE to find Elaine’s books

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com