Where have all the Novels gone?

When I was a sophomore in high school, my English teacher assigned us to write a paper on where we would be in ten years.  I know now that this was a pretty typical assignment, but at the time I completely adored my teacher - Mr Bob Sheldon, I wonder where he's at now? - and not just because he wrote in my yearbook that I was his bright and shining star.  I really, genuinely wanted to impress him.  And so, as a result, I wrote a long and impressive essay that detailed how in ten years I would have graduated college, married, had three children and produced no less than five New York Times bestselling novels.

Yeah.

I wanted to be a writer from pretty far back, much before that essay, but it surprises me now how easy I thought it would be.  Everyone told me I had talent; friends, teachers, even the parents of friends, and so I decided it would be easy to write novels and get them published.  My favourite authors at the time - Stephen King especially - seemed to publish prolifically, and I saw no reason why I couldn't do the same thing.

Unfortunately for me, I came of age in a time when short story magazines were dying rapidly, and the novel didn't seem far behind.  No one was buying books, I was told, everyone cared about this new thing - the INTERNET, and print media was on the way out.

It may still be hanging on by a shoestring, but I think people weren't far off with that assessment.  I agreed with the predictions and went on to pursue other things that interested me.  By 25, I had done none of the things in my essay, but had explored a multitude of other areas that turned out to be just right for me to explore.  Today I do write to pay my bills... just not bestselling novels, or novels of any kind for that matter.  I still write fiction, but it's just for fun.  To pay  my bills, I write for a few different freelance agencies, and that's what this blog is all about - the life of a freelance writer in a digital age.

The primary site I'm working for is Mahalo, where I'm what's known as a guide.  My husband works there as well - but as a walkthrough writer, and we have vastly different experiences, connections, and types of interactions there.  I'll see if at some point I can convince him to ghostblog for me and talk about what it's like to write walkthroughs.  From my POV, writing walkthroughs means getting to play games all day, but what do I know? Check out the very first walkthrough he did for the site here:  http://www.mahalo.com/splatterhouse-walkthrough