As you can tell from my blog, I analyze the shit out of things.

I had a friend in high school who told me I was wishy-washy. But that ain't it. I mean, yeah, I change my mind a lot but only because I have a new thought or new information. (OK, so maybe I'm wishy-washy.)

This has served me well at the store. I constantly monitor things, make changes, tinker, try again, change course, go back, change my mind again--because in this process I eventually arrive at the best answer.

Personally, I think the most important attribute of a small business owner is to think for yourself. Absolutely follow your own intuition and reasoning. Yes, pay attention to what others are doing, but be sure that you arrive at your conclusions on your own.

So I do this with my writing too, obviously. But these days, instead of doing it within one book, I'm changing course from book to book.

"Faerylander" is more like the way I used to write. Constantly changing things--it drove Linda crazy when we tried writing "Sometimes a Dragon" together. I ended up screwing up that book so much it's probably never going to see the light of day. Same with "Bloodstone" and "Changelings of Ereland." Both those books were fiddled with until they weren't viable, and meanwhile I wasted way too much time on them.

This is why I've had a hard and fast rule this time around. Finish the book before making changes.

That one rule has saved my life.

At the store, I constantly disrupted the business model, constantly got myself in trouble, constantly overreached.

But you know what? I think ironically, that kept us in business, because I was constantly scrambling trying to save the business I learned to think for myself. (The biggest problems I had with the store was overexpanding even though my instincts told me that sports cards and comics were exploding way too fast. Yep. After that, I knew better. Great Recession? Saw it a mile away. heh)

I tend to be a loner, and ironically that has made me a little bit immune to group think, which I think is the downfall of so many businesses. Everyone tends to make the same mistakes because everyone is making the same mistakes, if that makes any sense.

Of course, with writing it's not a matter of survival, except in the sense that I want to keep my creative urges intact. I love writing, I'm addicted to writing, and what the fuck happens after I'm finished with a book simply isn't up to me.

So I try to satisfy myself with every effort, and I never quite get it all the way right, and I take what I've learned and apply it to the next book.