Evolution of a Writer

My first book was published thirty years ago this December. A year after my agent called me with the news that a brand spanking new publisher called Silhouette Books wanted to buy my first two books.

The best part was I wouldn’t be a one book writer and it was time to see if I could write more books.

Obviously, I could, and what a journey it’s been

Just like the transition from childhood to adult, it’s all an evolution of a writer and a person.

Back in the late 1970s I wrote books with a single point-of-view, alpha heroes who were usually quite a bit older than the tender-hearted virgin heroines and we won’t even go into the bitchy ‘other woman’ that tended to crop up. And love scenes were behind closed doors. Yawn!

And romance writers always wore pink, smiled constantly, ate bonbons, and chirped instead of talked. So not me at all.

Even back then I knew I wanted to write ‘more’ and I pushed the envelope any way I could. So many of us felt the same. It meant coming up more with more innovative storylines, and strong characters that stood out.

It meant writing hero oriented plots, role reversal stories such as my male housekeeper book, Caution Man at Work and Guardian Angel that featured a female bodyguard, and other books that offered a reader more.

Yes, it meant a lot more work, but it was worth it, because it allowed me to grow as a writer and even as a person. It always hasn’t been easy and times I wondered whether I should continue writing, but every writer will tell you it’s not something you can easily quit. Your imagination won’t allow it.

We never remain stagnant. I mean, how boring is that? And no way I want to be the same person I was 30 years ago. I want to move forward, change my hairstyle a few million times, the way I dress and how I think.

I know I couldn’t write what I wrote in the beginning because I’ve progressed so far. And I’d like to think it’s all for the better. That my evolution knew what to do with me.

Even now, I wonder what my next evolution will bring me.

What about you? Do you feel you’ve evolved over the years? That even if there’s been bumps in the road, you’ve kept going?

Linda