Every professional writer gets asked the same question:

"What are you thinking about when you're putting a story together?"

So for my own clarification as well as yours, here are some ruminations that are always at the forefront:

4. Who Is My Audience?

Sometimes it seems like it's just about everyone. One of the reasons Pastor Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Life, sold as many copies as it did was because of its universal appeal. Christians could arguably relate to its message more than any other type of demographic, but so could atheists, polytheists, and soul searching agnostics. Warren capitalized on the fact that no one on planet earth wants to live their life without reason.

3. Is My Voice Unique?

I don't usually get this question during interviews as I have a very deep understanding that the way I write is vastly different from how other popular authors sculpt their prose. Probably too much. I try to keep it at a conversational pace, but most critics consider the bulk of my work too difficult to make sense of. Hopefully, it makes as much sense as at least Ludwig Wittgenstein or William Gaddis, cause those knuckleheads will admit at the drop of a hat that they didn't know what any of their own work meant half the time.  I also think it's a lot like preparing a meal. Bookworms can tell who some of my favorite authors are, usually outlaw journalism before the new millennium, and I also feel people find a lot of my prose deplorable - to the extent that it's ten times creepier to converse about than Stephen King's stories and next to impossible to comment on in social media. I'm cool with that. You have to have despicable characters in your work. If you don't, you're not taking any chances, no tension between good and evil or lessons learned whatsoever. You're also probably not very much fun to read. Great writing can induce euphoria or nausea, and both very quickly in a short amount of time.

2. If It's Not Entertaining, Is It Interesting?

I've heard it said that the chief goal of any writer is to be able to hold their reader's attention as long as they can. If you don't believe me, just walk into your local public library or bookstore. Did I make you miss a doctors appointment or late to work? I can safely say I did my job well that day. Many people enjoy a great book right before bed. Reading requires a lot of focus and concentration and can easily induce fatigue. Traveling can also be confining, so reading and writing allow our minds to explore and investigate other realms when we aren't physically able to do so.

1. Is It Profitable?

Money not only affords us new opportunities for just about anything imaginable, but it also helps make our next book better than its predecessor. So I'll end this by stating: What one person spends money on to acquire, another will spend in an attempt to get rid of.

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