Episode notes
What does it look like to build a successful writing career while raising seven children?
For award-winning, bestselling author and ghostwriter Lana McAra, it looked a lot less like a quiet office and a lot more like homeschooling seven children on the Caribbean island of Grenada.
Lana has written more than 50 books, sold over one million copies, worked as a professional editor and book coach, and spent more than two decades helping other writers build careers of their own. But some of the years she remembers most fondly are the 25 years she spent teaching her children at home.
In this conversation, Lana shares how motherhood unexpectedly became the place where her writing career began, why she started writing during nap times when she didn't have time to read, how she navigated 19 rejection letters and 14 years before receiving her first publishing contract, and how she eventually turned her experience as an author into a career helping other writers.
We also talk about building community as an author, becoming visible before your book is finished, the changing publishing industry, and knowing when a recurring idea might actually be a calling.
Because sometimes the beginning of a dream doesn't look like the dream at all. Sometimes it looks like a chalkboard, seven children, and a mother finding little pockets of time to write.
Thank you for joining us for another conversation in the village!
Have a motherhood story, question, or accomplishment you'd like to share? Send it to draftingmotherhoodpod@gmail.com.
Lana's resources:
Website: http://LanaMcAra.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thewriterschair
Podcast: https://fictionwriterspodcast.com/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lana-McAra/author/B0BL8SKS9T
Vendela Publishing: https://vendelapublishing.com/