Well, I’ve been off the grid for the most part for the past month. Between medical treatments, finishing the first round of edits for two upcoming books, and then a well-deserved beach vacation, I have done much with Tiaras & Tennis Shoes. But I’m back now and ready to get back to reality. Well, sort of reality.  As a writer of fiction, my “work” should be anything but reality.

Of course,  there’s the reality of book edits, marketing, social networking, and a ton of other things a writer must do. But those are the things I must put up with to live in the make-believe worlds I get to create.

When I’m in full create mode of writing a new story, I become immersed in the story world I’m creating. So much so that at the end of a writing session, it can take more than a few minutes to come back to  my real world. Even as I sit pretending to listen to my husband, I’m actually worrying about that person–oops, I mean character that I left in peril back in my other world.

The same thing happens when I read a good book. In fact, that’s how I judge whether a book is “good” or  just ok. If the writer can transport me to their created world and I like it there, then they’ve done their job well.

How about you? As a reader or a writer, how do you judge the success of a book? What makes a book special for you? Is it the characters, the setting, the plot, the lessons they’ve learned, or something else?

UNTIL NEXT TIME…GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!