In March 1981, I took a yellow legal pad and wrote the opening line of what would become my first published novel. While I had toyed with writing both in high school and as a young adult, I hadn’t given serious thought to writing a novel until the fall of 1980. A number of things played into this growing desire inside of me, but the final straw was reading a book with an ending that didn’t satisfy me.
And so, putting my money where my mouth is (as the saying goes), I decided to write a novel of my own. I’d had a story idea bouncing around in my head for months. I took that yellow legal pad and began to write it down.
I did my writing mostly at night before going to sleep. I wrote longhand, but then I typed the story on the office typewriter on breaks and lunch hours. By November I had a finished book. I sold that novel to a New York mass market publishing house in February of 1982. They went bankrupt within a month or two of me signing the contract, and I sold the manuscript a second time the next year, along with the sequel I’d written.
Forty-one years later, I’ve released 85 novels and novellas with two more written and edited and scheduled to come out in 2022. I wrote 30 books for the general mass market before following God’s call in a different direction.
Publishing has changed a lot since I started. From IBM Selectrics to memory typewriters to personal computers. From mass market paperbacks to ebooks on reading devices like the Kindle and Nook. From audiobooks on CDs (and so expensive!!) to downloading to one’s phone (often for under ten dollars). There were over 500 wholesale distributers in the US when I started. Now there are only a few. I saw Waldenbooks put independent bookstores out of business, and then Barnes and Noble put Waldenbooks out of business, and then Amazon nearly topple Barnes and Noble. I saw the vast majority of Christian bookstores close their doors as well.
But of all the things that altered the publishing landscape, the most changes happened in the last 15 years (less, actually) because of the rise of indie publishing. It’s a whole different world out there for authors, including for me.
I’ll be honest. I hope I’ll be writing and publishing fiction for another 20 or more years. But no matter what, I’m very, very grateful for the past 41 years, for the publishers and editors I’ve worked with, and for the wonderful reader friends I have made. Thanks for joining me on the journey.
~robin
Robin Lee Hatcher
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I hope you’re still writing 20 years from now, too, Robin, because I hope to be still reading 20 years from now and a Robin Lee Hatcher novel is always one of my first choices on the TBR pile! Thanks for this look back and congrats on so many great books! What you didn’t mention is all the (very well-deserved!) awards your books have won!
Ah, thanks, Deb.
Thank you for telling about your writing journey, Robin. I’m a retired teacher who has loved to read ever since I could turn the page of a picture book. However, I know I could never write a novel. Congratulations on your achievement and talent. May you be inspired to write more wonderful books!
Thanks. Betty.
Congratulations, Robin! You’re an inspiration!