Is Economy Affecting Writing?

By C. LaRene Hall

With the economy this year, many things have changed in my life. My husband and I have had to alter the way we spend money. We don’t just run to the store for every little thing we think we need. Like everyone else, we are trying to save on fuel, so we plan our errands so that everything in one direction we do at the same time.

I work for a Real Estate and Construction Company. No, I don’t sell real estate and I don’t build houses, I pay the bills. Things are not looking good in the housing industry now. I’ve never seen it this bad.

What are we going to do? I don’t think anyone has the answer to that question. As a member of the LDS church, I’ve always believed in food storage. My supply is low. Last summer my grandson cleaned my food storage area and threw all outdated stuff away. It filled my garbage can for several weeks, but I was glad to know that the things I have are safe to eat. The problem is I haven’t replenished it as much as I should have.

With money as tight as it is, I have also thought about another thing. Are people going to be spending their money to buy books? I haven’t bought as many this year, and have spent more time going to the library. If people aren’t buying books, how am I, as an author, going to sell them? To me that is a scary question.

Maybe it means that my writing is going to have to be twice as good as it was before. Publishers are going to have to be more selective in what they accept. No matter what, since I’m a writer I’ll still have to write.