Self-published has rocked the foundation, but when it’s all said, ‘A writer writes for the reader.’ Some nights I write an hour longer because I know a reader is out there waiting for the next book.īelow: Jodi Thomas's writing spaces, on campus (left) and at home (right) The publishing world in constantly changing. When I moved to a computer my output tripled. How has the writing life changed since you started? Did you start out on a computer/word processor/typewriter, for instance? Looking back, it was the best move I ever made.

I almost starved that year, but I learned how to work. I quit teaching, took out my retirement to live on until I got royalties, bought a new computer and five jogging suits to work in, and went to work. Romance Writers of America named it the Best Historical Romance that year - my first RITA. The Tender Texan - sappy title but everyone loved the book about the founding of Fredericksburg, Texas. What was the turning point when you determined you could write full-time? I didn’t know how to write deep characters then, so I had to keep killing off characters and bringing in new ones. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was looking for a Texas voice, and I’m about as Texas as they come. A year later I went to a national writing conference in Dallas and pitched it to an editor. That’s when I figured it out-writing is about a hundred times harder than people think it is.Īfter that first rejection I waited a week and started the next book. I remember my husband saying when I got the first rejection letter, ‘you didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?’īy then I’d taken every class I could on writing, read every book I could find on writing, and wrote every night.

It took me two years to write the first book, and I was surprised when no one wanted it. Most of the time I was standing still and the publishing world was buying out one another. JODI THOMAS:I’ve published over forty books now with Kensington, Berkley, Penguin, Putnam and HQN and HarperCollins. LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE: Jodi, you’ve published dozens of novels in the past quarter-century-plus.

Forever in texas by jodi thomas