by Ruth Harris  on Anne R Allen site:

Writing Success happens, but you need to leave Middle Earth, Hobbitses

Whether we write Space Opera or Women’s Fiction, Romance or Thrillers, our job is fantasy. We make up characters, imagine lives we never led (Spy? Shifter? Wizard? Supermodel? Yarn shop owner? Billionaire? Serial killer?), go to places we’ve never travelled to like distant planets or space stations, and describe activities we’ve never engaged in.

We work hard to make our fantasies seem real to our readers and always understand the difference between the fantasy lives we create and our everyday lives that include the day job, laundry, the kids’ soccer practice and hectic business travel schedules.

So far, so good, but there’s an ooopsie factor and it’s the common fantasies about publishing, the long-running starry-eyed fictions I’ve heard over and over. Here is where I might rain on your parade (tho I don’t want to). What I do want to do is try to separate those fantasies from the realities you are more likely to experience when you take off those rose-colored glasses.

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