I've always been a reader, always known the importance of stories, however it never occurred to me that I could be the one TELLING the stories. It wasn't until at a point in my life when I was reinventing myself circa 2016 that I signed up for a writing contest on a whim. Little did I know that I would be hooked from there!
People can be very snooty about "real books" and being able to turn pages. However, I think e-books have made reading so much more accessible. All you need is a device and an internet connection to download a myriad of books. They are less expensive to purchase than traditional books and are widely available for free from library services, easier to transport multiple books in a single lightweight device when traveling, and have the ability to change font size and brightness/backlighting for the optimally individualized reading experience. This is definitely a technological win!
Absolutely! While I rarely publish true non-fiction (though I have a few short CNF stories out there) I have often fictionalized experiences or modeled characters on people I have met. I once lifted and entire scene for a story right from my own life, and had a good laugh when an editor came back to me to say that it didn't seem very realistic.
I like to see what the readers think. Sure good reviews can feel great and bad ones can get me down, but I try to remember that reviews are for other readers, not particularly for the author. Not every reader is going to resonate with the story. Typically, I use reviews to determine if I have reached the correct audience.
