As writers, we get so absorbed with the storyline and characters, writing, and a myriad of creative reasons not to write that we forget about the business side of being a writer.
We lose sight of the fact that once we’re done with writing, editing, revising (rinse and repeat), we’ll need to talk about the book. In a way that’s interesting, intelligent and concise.
Cue the deer in the headlights footage.
It’s embarrassing when someone asks, “What’s your book about?” and you stand there staring at them like a deer caught in the headlights. It can be absolutely disastrous if it happens when you’re on the elevator at a writing conference and your dream agent is the one asking.
I’ve been there before.
Not on the elevator with my dream agent. But let’s just say my deer-in-the-headlights face has gotten pretty damned good thanks to some hard core practice.
What I have since discovered is that writing the premise of your story first is the key to never having this happen to you again. Today I’m over at Contemporary Romance Writers–the blog for my RWA online Contemporary Romance Writers Chapter enumerating the this and two other reasons why it pays to write the premise before you write your book.
Listen to the little diddy above (because it will seriously make you happy for at least the next three hours) then I’d love it if you popped over to the Contemporary Romance Writers blog to chat about whether you write your premise first and when your last deer-in-the-headlights experience occurred.
