Who Am I?

I think most writers, especially those of us not yet published, are constantly struggling with an identity crisis. If publication is your goal, how can you not ask… what do “they” (the publishers) want?

I’ve been struggling not just with this, but as a romance writer, where do I fit. The thing about writing romance is you’ve got your single title, your category, your romantic suspense, your inspirational, your erotic, and on and on and on. If you write the same thing over and over with only marginally positive results, it’s too tempting to think… well, what if I try something different?

Sometimes that can be good. Sometimes it stretches you as a writer or you find your voice has fit this other place all along. But sometimes it’s just that doubt in the back of your mind making you question all your decisions.

I don’t read much outside of single title romance or Harlequin Superromances. Still, in the past year I’ve written a medical, an American, a Blaze and a few that are too short to be single title but don’t really fit any Harlequin categories. Do you see the problem?

I’m struggling to write what I enjoy reading. Whether its content or word count or etc… I can’t seem to mesh the two. There are a lot of reputable publishers out there that make the  selling what I do have a possibility, but there’s always the concern that what I’ve done is too something-they-don’t-want.

Of course, that’s always a possibility, no matter what you write, but amidst all this discouragement and not feeling well… I feel a lack of focus, a lack of identity.

Who am I and what should I do? Right now, I just don’t know.