It’s 8:30 AM and I’m sitting in my antique-filled room at a quaint little hotel in Lincoln City, Oregon. I’ve spent the weekend attending a workshop put on by Dean Wesley Smith. This morning will be the last session and then I’ll head north for the next leg of my trip. This is the first chance I’ve had to write something other than assignments for the workshop.

It’s been a great weekend. The subject of study was “Pitches & Blurbs”—basically, how to describe a book in a way that will encourage browsing book-buyers to give it serious consideration. Was it worthwhile coming all this way just to learn how to describe a book? Yes, indeed! Not only have I picked up ideas entirely new to me and had a chance to practice them, with feedback, but there is an invigorating pleasure in meeting with other writers who are enthusiastic about their craft and their business.

Because writing is a business. My fiction is what produces my income—not anywhere near enough to live on at present, but I’m hoping for better, because I’d like to stay in this business for a long, long time.

For most of my career I have not treated writing as a business. That changed when I got into indie publishing, but despite the forward progress, I still have a lot to learn. Learning is fun though. Challenging myself to do new things keeps it all fresh.

And yes, I hope to come back to Lincoln City before too long, to try out another workshop.