Naps and Market Changes

Lunches with co-workers are great. You can go hang out with your colleagues, let off some steam, and get out of the office. But when you return to work, trying to get motivated is something else.

And right now, I have an unbelievable urge to nap.

Maybe it's the lack of sugar in my system. I'm trying to cut down drastically on my sweets. I'm not doing too bad, which is encouraging. I haven't even consciously tried to avoid sugar. My body just isn't craving it right now. I think God has a hand in that because usually, I do nothing BUT crave sugar.

I wrote on my inspirational novel last night - about a page (single-spaced). Something is better than nothing. This novel is a bit different than any other I've done. Besides being an inspirational, it is also a novel where I have quite a bit of the research done even before I started writing it. What could be better? Yes, research is part of the fun, but I usually can't wait to jump into the writing itself.

Boy, a nap sure does sound good.

Rene and I were chatting yesterday about the lack of variety in the historical market. She did a blog on it today (http://alittlecheesewiththatwhine.blogspot.com) and she made a lot of sense. Although I absolutely love the Regency and the Napoleonic Wars, I also love the American Revolution and the French Revolution (as I've alluded to here before). But I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes different time periods other than the Regency. Yet I nearly cringe when I look at a copy of Romantic Times and scan the book reviews. So many are coming out with a Regency setting. Since my finished manuscript is a Regency, it makes me wonder - when will the market shift? When will Regency, paranormal, vampires, etc. no longer be "it?"

I know the time is coming for the market to change, but trying to gauge when that will happen might be a bit more difficult.

I have great ideas for stories that take place in the French Revolution and the American Revolution. But why write it if it won't sell? There is always the POD route or the old argument of "write for yourself first, money later." But if we're in this business, most of us expect to get published at one point or another. I don't plan to just write my novels and let them sit in a drawer. I, personally, will not be satisfied with that. Some people may be and that is absolutely fine. But not me.

If you have the desire to write the book, then write it. If it's not what the market wants right now, then you have a few options. 1) Go the POD route, 2) stick it in a drawer and forget about it or 3) wait. I like the third option the best. I think it is entirely possible to finish a manuscript and then really watch the market trends and see where they're going. Your book could likely be the next "break-out" book that starts a new trend.