When I was twelve, I was bitten by the reading bug. It wasn’t long after that when I decided to write my own book. I’d already written lots of poetry and short stories, so the idea of making the leap from those to writing and selling a novel seemed easy. Yes, I had a lot to learn. Fast forward around fifteen years to the day I told myself, "quit procrastinating and do it already." And so I finally did take one of the many ideas churning around in my head and wrote a novel from it. What I found out after I’d typed The End was twofold: one, I’d accomplished something I’d dreamed about by finishing that novel. Two – and equally important, in my opinion – was that I loved writing. That doesn’t mean pursuing a career as an author was as easy as finally writing that first novel. In fact, if I could rewind the clock and talk to former self on the day I’d finished my first book, I’d say, "Great! Now comes the hard part." Huh? you might think. Isn’t writing a book the hardest part of pursuing a career as an author? Well, for me,…