Navy wife passes 1M words, 7 books

(Editor’s note: Jason wrote this story in May 2010 for Lori Witt to help her gain some publicity within the military community and provide something as a jumping off point for marketing efforts. )

She sits typing on a laptop at a pressboard computer desk in a room not much bigger than a master closet. Sometimes minutes. Sometimes hours. Weather, mood and social schedules can wait. They will wait. They are secondary to the words, and the motivation to prove someone wrong who bet against her.

In every letter, word, paragraph and page, Lori Witt finds her living. “I sometimes joke that I have to write so the voices in my head will shut up,” Lori said, “but I’m only half-joking.  When I get a character in my head, I need to tell his story.  I have literally lost sleep over stories, because I just need to write them.”

It’s paid off for the Woodinville, Wash., native and Navy spouse currently living in Okinawa, Japan. Six adult romance books sold so far. Her books are in top 10 lists on Amazon.com and other book sites across the Web. The first book, Between Brothers, sold in May 2009. Her reaction?

“It’s an awesome feeling, knowing you’ve written something that resonated with someone else, enough that they see it as being marketable.  The feeling never gets old. I usually describe it on my blog as, ‘Excuse me while I go run screaming around the neighborhood a few times.’  This isn’t too far from the truth.”

Neither is the notion that Lori’s success as a writer now is haunted by her past as a self-described eccentric. Growing up, everyone in the house quickly knew the meaning of a closed bedroom door and the muffled sounds of rapid typing. Mom and Dad also put up with her need to try everything: from fencing to showing horses.

As soon as she could write legibly, she penned short stories.  Short stories turned into longer stories, those stories turned into novels. “I finished the first draft of my fantasy novel when I was 19.  I rewrote it two more times (2004 and 2007), then abandoned it when I switched to romance in 2008.”

At about the same time, because someone bet she couldn’t, she wanted out of high school. In her junior year, she entered a program that would allow her to take college classes at night while attending high school in the day, taking full course loads at both schools. She was hell-bent on graduating high school with an associate’s degree, but added the experience was far more valuable than the degree.

“Since I was taking night classes, most of my classmates were working adults, ranging anywhere from their late teens to their mid-50s, from all different economic classes and backgrounds,” Lori said. “I can’t decide if I learned more from the students or the teachers, but you’d better believe it shaped me and, in turn, my writing.”

Lori finished both programs, got married and began the Navy life with her husband, Petty Officer 2nd Class Eddie Witt. However, it wasn’t until November 2008 that she decided to go pro. She entered a popular Internet-based writing contest called “National Novel Writing Month.” That did it.

“Something just clicked,” she said. “After I finished that book, I started the next. Then the next,” she said. “That was 14 novels ago, and I’ve never looked back.”

Aside from Eddie, she’s had help. Some 6,000 miles and nine time zones west, Witt’s self-proclaimed motivator and mentor who writes under the pen name Scarlett Parrish proofs pages, offers advice and stokes the fires from her laptop and chair in Dundee, Scotland. Lori met Parrish at Absolute Write, a 23,000-member strong Web site offering writing advice. They clicked instantly.

“We’re both no-nonsense people. For all our dedication to the craft of writing, when we talk to each other, we have a ‘cut to the chase’ attitude,” Parrish said. “We don’t dress up our intent in descriptive words; we save those for our novels. We’re brutal when critiquing each other’s work. Borderline merciless.”

“She has dared me to write certain stories and made offhand comments that inspired others,” Witt said of Parrish. In one case, they’d been discussing the merits and pitfalls of outlining.  Lori outlined. Parrish refused.  “I decided to give it a try without an outline. So in a show of solidarity, she decided to outline her next book.  The resulting books, which we came up with specifically for this little challenge, turned out to be two of the best books either of us has written to date.”

As close as sisters, the two talk often via instant messenger and e-mail, collaborating and sharing ideas. “Could I write on my own? Could she? Oh yeah. But it wouldn’t be half as much fun,” Parrish said. “And sending each other chapters ‘hot off the press’ is a good way of getting instant feedback which encourages us to keep going.”

Meanwhile, the subject matter of Witt’s genre always raises an eyebrow. Adult romance isn’t mainstream, but the markets are there, especially in eBooks, where Lori does much of her business. Sales of eBooks are up 35 percent from 2008. Royalties average between 5 and 8 percent, and advances can be as high as $10,000.

The downside? Seventy percent of the books published do not earn out their advance and do not make a profit, according to the Jenkins Group, a book publisher. There’s also the stigma the genre presents.

“The reader can always tell if the author has written something they feel is distasteful. It’s simply a matter of personal choice,” said genre blogger Morgan Hawke. “To many people, fiction is an outlet and/or an art. To me it’s a way to pay the bills. Either you like writing erotic romance or you don’t. It’s not a bad thing – it’s just a thing.”

Lori is straightforward about her work. “I’m in this to make a living, but I’m also in this to write quality fiction.  My writing partner and I both aim to raise standards, particularly in our genres,” she said.

She’s also raising the bar in sheer volume. In 2009, by her own account, Lori wrote 1 million words. That’s the novel Twilight eight and a half times. Six Da Vinci Codes. Four thousand double-spaced pages. And she reached that number before the year even ended. Someone bet that she couldn’t do it and she proved them wrong again.

“I used to be the queen of starting but not finishing things,” she said. “Hitting this goal meant I could not only set myself a lofty goal, but I could reach it.”

With 14 total books in her portfolio, and another sold March 1, Lori continues to make her living with words. She’s started a literary novel and another in the works “that can’t decide what genre it is.” Parrish said the formula to Lori’s success is easily made.

“Strengths? Her work ethic. We’re tired of people saying, ‘I don’t have time to write.’ You know what? There are 24 hours in everyone’s day. She makes time, not excuses.”

“I want to branch out just to try new things,” Lori added. “That, and everything I write teaches me something. So I want to see what other genres can teach me to improve my writing across the board.

Don’t bet against her.

(Note: Lori can also be found on her blog at http://navywifeadventures.blogspot.com)

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