Guest post: How author Nancy Christie defines success as a writer

“Success.” Now there’s something that most, if not all, writers think of, yearn for and at times doubt their ability to achieve. And when Sione asked me how I define success as a writer—a question I always ask writers when I interview them!—I came up with more questions than answers.

For one thing, defining success implies that there is a yardstick out there against which you can measure your own achievement. But whose yardstick is it: the reading public, reviewers, your own?

And what are the tick marks on that yardstick: number of sales, amount of income or royalties, size of fan base or following, number of pages written or writing projects completed, regardless of published status?

So what does make me feel successful as a writer—specifically as a fiction writer? What measuring stick do I use?

Interview with author Nancy Christie

Today I'm thrilled to feature an interview with author and freelance writer Nancy Christie here on the blog. Nancy and I connected through Twitter, and within minutes of our first interaction she offered to feature me on her blog The Writer's Place (which has a lot of great interviews and guest posts on topics from research to book marketing and blogging and everything in between). Nancy has two books out and a third coming out soon with Pixel Hall Press. But I'll let her tell you more about that.

In the following interview, Nancy talks about the riad, eating paper, and Stephen King, among other things.