We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cara North a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cara , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I continue to learn about writing. It is a process, not a product even when we create products from the process. It is a life-long learning adventure. Knowing what I know now, I would have spent more time taking creative writing classes and workshops. I would have joined author associations and other groups to get the network of knowledge going sooner. The most essential skills for a writer are imagination and the ability to communicate that vision in writing. Storytelling is often more important to a reader than mechanics and doing things the “proper” way. The number one obstacle for me in all things is time. There is rarely enough of it to do all the things I would like to accomplish in any given day.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a USMC veteran, an instructional designer, college educator, writing coach, and author with 3 pseudonyms. My non-fiction is under my legal name, Tonya Nagle, PhD. My romance novels have been published under the name Cara North for over 12 years. I added September North for all YA and Echo North for Sci-Fi and Fantasy that is not primarily romance. I got into this industry by meeting other writers, joining organizations, and learning the path to publication. I provide entertainment in fiction and resources in non-fiction. This includes a podcast, Creative Writing With Dr Nagle. What I am most proud of is the continuity and longevity of my time as a published author. What people should know is that most indie authors are working additional jobs in order to offset the cost of publishing. I work full-time and part-time jobs in addition to my writing. I’m not giving up any of them. I want to enjoy my writing more than the business side of it, so I need those jobs to ensure I don’t put that pressure on my writing sales. I’m generally happy if my writing can cover my writing expenses.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

As an indie author, there have been many moments over the past decade that I thought I would just close the digital doors and be done with it. The entire business side of authorship has been through some significant changes and without a significant income, I began to ask myself why I was still holding on to this time and money drain. Simple, I love writing. I enjoy creating stories. I love when readers enjoy my stories. I had to reevaluate what success meant to me and that had to look more like connection to readers and less like paying my bills with my royalties. It meant working full-time elsewhere, but the sanity that comes from that day job and the support coming from my continued readers is worth it. When I started writing, I was happy to be picked up by a publisher and see my book on a bookshelf in a bookstore. In the aftermath of publishers closing and the rise of the indie author platform, I had to learn all of it and become all of the parts of publishing for myself. Then, I had to find a balance and a happy place for me to not lose my creativity and desire to write. It’s been a long journey, and as long as I have a handful of readers looking forward to the next book. I will write and publish it.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

One thing that has helped me build my reputation within the author community is live events and my podcast. I am very aware that I am not a name on a screen. I intentionally want to be at signings and other places people can connect with me in real time because face-to-face encounters still build confidence and trust. When running an anthology with other authors, it is a lot easier for them to trust me with even a small amount of investment when they know they are going to see me in person, can hold me accountable for my actions in one-on-one settings. Everything I do, I do with the mindset of: Can I still stand my ground and hold my head up high knowing I did what I could for all involved. I think people know that or learn that about me and it has made me a resource for many people because I am not always looking for an angle or way to TAKE from them. I can lift someone else up and not try to climb on that ledge to stand next to them. I generally prefer to keep my feet on the ground.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.creativewritingwithdrnagle.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caranorth_author/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caranorthauthor/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorCaraNorth
• Other: Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/musesandsirens