We recently connected with Jan D Payne and have shared our conversation below.

Jan D , 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.

Before my decision to write full-time, I made it a point to attend lectures given by local authors– in libraries and churches and schools–as a way to discover their ‘writing’ advice, as many of them, like myself, had retired from previous careers before deciding to write professionally. I was surprised to discover that advice, by and large, was to take as many writing classes as possible and for at least a year before attempting a major writing project like the novel I wished to write.

With that advice–though I felt I already knew how to write (!)–I decided to take one, and only one, online writing class, mainly to prove to myself I didn’t need to be ‘taught’ how to write. After only the one class, I was amazed (dismayed really) at the learning curve, at the number of techniques and the various means and methods of writing I’d never before encountered.

As a result, I have become a voracious reader of books on writing techniques, a subscriber to writing podcasts, and a dedicated student of writing classes. I study such things as point of view and voice, grammatical guidelines, character building, plot design, psychic distance, story arc, etc. etc. and now consider myself not so much a writer as a life-long student of the writing art. It’s a given I’ll never learn all there is to know about the subject–or even retain everything I learn–but I do feel I’m progressing. I am grateful to those authors who presented the hard truth about writing, who told me that “You, yes, YOU” need to start with writing classes!

Jan D , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am the author of the Marin Sinclair book series, suspense fiction based in the Navajo Nation and interwoven with the land, the people, and the culture of Dinetah, the Navajo Nation. I am a member of Western Writers of America and Women Writing the West.

I used variations of my own life-stories (with ‘thriller’ embellishments) as the basis for my first book, ‘Rabbit Moon’, the title a reference to a rabbit in the moon motif, a cultural difference I chose to highlight to contrast with the man in the moon motif widely used in American/Anglo culture. The title represents life in another culture–the need for a different way of seeing things, a different way of thinking, and a willingness to learn new things. It is perspective through our own experiences that create our own story–a story which belongs to us by virtue of each individual’s unique situation.

My own story is a mix of western cowboy culture from my horse-trainer father, an education-oriented culture from my school-teacher mother, and my experience of life on the ‘Rez’. I am not Native American, and I work to avoid the errors of misappropriation resulting from a lack of respect for the Dineh culture or from treating the culture as my (or Marin’s) own. That said, I feel each of us have our own, lived, story to tell and there are people who need to hear–and who will enjoy hearing–story they might not otherwise encounter.

The main thing, the ‘take-away’, I’d like to inspire in a reader of the Marin Sinclair series is certainly that of having read a satisfying, well-written suspense story, but also the sense of having experienced a small slice of insight into the country, the people, and the history of the Dineh.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I am fortunate to live in a state where the Arts are liberally funded, so the first thing I did was to write a grant requesting funding to get the book business started. The grant was awarded, which then allowed me to hire a publicity agency to manage the marketing aspects of book promotions and sales. I also created an LLC (limited liability company) for tax and ownership purposes, which requires an initial filing fee as well as annual renewal fees. In addition, I applied for a tax number in order to sell books at bookfairs, vendor events, etc. and I paid to have an author website created and the content managed by a professional in the computer field. As for equipment, a computer, writing software, internet service and Wi-Fi were the basic requirements.

The costs of actual book publication vary–for myself, I choose to have the manuscripts professionally edited (both copy and line edits) and I have the books formatted, with cover design, as well. The initial cost can be somewhat steep, depending on the individual editing companies and their service charges, but the resulting professional appearance is well worth it.

Being an Indie author is challenging, both in the monetary outlay for each successive book and in the ongoing cost of purchasing printed books to sell at bookstores, libraries, and vendor events. The work is essentially the same as running a small publishing company and–as any new restaurant, boutique, or business must do–gradually building up a returning clientele with a consistent output of product. For writers that usually means the publication of at least one book per year to maintain a reader following. The creative part is in the writing, but the administrative work is necessary to fund the writing; work which hopefully will result in each successive book building and maintaining a growing audience.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There is very little that is more satisfying than the positive feedback one gets from readers–feedback that fuels an enthusiasm for writing that next book. As an author with–to date–only two books in the Marin Sinclair series, I am encouraged and motivated to continue Marin’s story by the interest I receive both online and in person. The warm reception, the thoughtful questions during book-signings or library talks, the in-depth interviews (such as this), the guest podcasts and the blogs have turned out to be as fulfilling as the writing itself.

Engaging in encouragement or sharing what advice I can to writers who may be just starting out is also very rewarding, as is the camaraderie one has as a member of a writing group or in participating in writers’ conferences–a surprising aspect for an introvert who spends so much time in front of a computer screen.

As one friend recently put it: “Author world is fun!”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jandpayne.com
• Instagram: janpayne.author
• Facebook: Jan D Payne Author