The Cost of Writing Success

Yesterday, I had my first signing for Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House at Windows: A Bookshop in Monroe. Today, I’m doing a speech at the Scottish Society of Northeast Louisiana on the Flags of the Seven Celtic Nations (Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, Brittany, Galicia, and Cornwall). I’ll also be signing my book there. My May calendar is officially full of events and I am now filling my June calendar. My head spins when I think of all that I need to do to promote my books successfully.
Margaret Atwood in her book, Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing,  tells a joke I wanted to include in my post today regarding the cost of writing success.  She says:

“The Devil comes to the writer and says, ‘I will make you the best writer of your generation. Never mind generation–of this century. No–this millennium! Not only the best, but the most famous, and also the richest; in addition to that, you will be very influential and your glory will endure for ever. All you have to do is sell me your grandmother, your mother, your wife, your kides, your dog, and your soul.”

“Sure,” says the writer, “Absolutely–give me the pen, where do I sign?” Then he hesitates. “Just a minute,” he says. “What’s the catch?”