An Author is Rich in Other Ways Besides Royalties

This makes me laugh. I received a check for $20 – a quarterly royalty payment for my book, “A Woman’s Journey (on the Appalachian Trail” in print for 32 years- which is an accomplishment. BUT, some folks think that writers,especially authors make a lot of money. Now you who are my good friends know better, we travel all over the planet not because we are raking in the dough, but because we “do without”- make money choices like driving beater cars into the ground, etc. and use that $ for flights…it is all a choice. And with 5 books that WERE in print, “A Woman’s Journey ” is all that remains… so I get a whopping $100 if I’m lucky a year in royalty payments. Not complaining here- it just makes me chuckle when I rip open a check and wonder how I will get to spend the cash.

On this note, I am heading down to “Mary Alice’s Writer’s Retreat” in Monkton, MD to work on my new book for 4 days straight- uninterrupted- while she makes me dinner in the evenings and offers her advice on what I’ve written afterwards. She is a saint and the best that there is in friends. And it doesn’t matter that this book is a labor of love that will take many years until I get to see the results and hold an actual book in my hands that I can share with the world- Who cares about the money- that isn’t what’s most important. Wish me luck, that I can craft meaningful words, full of deep honest feelings and worth. But first, I must head back to my son’s room and put an IOU note in his stash of money since I won’t get to go cash my $20 check!