Today I had the honor of interviewing author, Ann H. Gabhart. Ann has been writing since she was but a wee child, and has carried her love of reading into the stories she writes. While writing may have come naturally for Ann, her writing career hasn't been so easy. She's worked hard to get where she is and would like to remind writers everywhere that persistence does indeed pay off-just believe in yourself hard enough and never give up!

How did writing become your career? Did it find you or did you find it?

I have been writing since I was a little girl, when I first realized that somebody was responsible for all those wonderful words. At the age of ten I began writing my first novel in wirebound notebooks. The wirebound notebooks gave way to a typewriter and the typewriter to a word processor, but I've never lost the urge to write. So I guess I'd have to say I found it or maybe I was born with it.

After I got older I wanted to see my words in print and see if I could make money writing. I've had some good years and some lean years since my first novel, a historical romance, was published in 1978, but I have never seriously considered giving up writing to do anything else. I've had some part-time jobs over the years to help pay the bills, but they were just a necessary evil. I was still writing. I am still writing. I can't imagine not writing.

What has been your biggest obstacle when it comes to finding the confidence in yourself to reach for those higher paying writing assignments and what did you do to conquer that obstacle?

I started out writing short pieces for various magazines, but after Warner Books published my first novel, I stopped writing short pieces and concentrated totally on writing novels. I've always had confidence in my ability to write. However, I sometimes second guessed my ability to write the right story-that story editors are anxious to snatch up after offering the author huge advances.

Now I just try to believe in the book I'm writing and make it the best that I can so that lots of readers will want to snatch up my book. That's the best way to impress editors.

What has been your biggest struggle locating "potential markets" for your books?

The biggest struggle I have as a writer has always been figuring out the best potential markets for my books. The most successful writers have an uncanny ability to guess what people are going "want" to read months and years down the road. I pay attention to what is in the book stores, but mostly I have to depend on my own feelings as to what I want to write next. I'm going to be working with my characters and their story for months, so it has to be a story I can get excited about.

I tell young people that my biggest attribute as a writer has always been persistence. Even when I wasn't finding markets for my writing, I never stopped writing. Dreaming of writing doesn't make it happen. You have to put the words on the page and send your words out into the world. Nobody in a brown hat is going to break down your door and demand to see the manuscript in your desk drawer or hidden away in your closet. Something like that might have happened with Margaret Mitchell and Gone with the Wind, but you can be pretty sure it's not going to happen to you.

Visit her at http://annhgabhart.com/

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