Readers might assume that the magic of writing—the writer’s enthusiasm for the craft, the thrill of expressing creativity and imagination—is a constant feeling that we summon at will, like a sorcerer gathering power from the ether, whenever we work on our manuscript. The reality is that the magic changes as our writing journey takes us through the finished work and into the business of publishing, marketing, and sales.

When many writers start their first manuscript, the magic of the writing life is indeed contained in their imaginings about what the completed book will be, how it will be received, and what attention/fame/riches might eventually result. Their mind projects a Pinterest-like board of images, stills that capture the drama of the scenes they’re excited to write, the book readings and signing events they’ll do, the shows they’ll appear on.

These images provide the motivation—the fuel for the creative engine—when the reality of writing a book-length manuscript begins to hit home: the difficult days when the right words don’t flow; the bone-deep knowledge that a scene, chapter, or even the whole book doesn’t work and will need to be rewritten; the seemingly endless editing to make every sentence as good as it can be. Some quit: most writers never finish what they start. Others remember why they embarked on the journey, and they review that mental Pinterest board and persevere.

The ones who finish then must decide how to share their work with the world. Will they self-publish it or seek the seal of approval of a traditional publisher? Either path requires effort and compromise. The self-published authors will get their book in the hands of readers much faster than the traditionally published ones, retain more control, and perhaps realize their vision for the book more completely, but traditionally published authors stand a much better chance of seeing their labor of love in bookstores around the nation or even the world in a variety of languages, and maybe they’ll witness their book climb the bestseller lists. As with everything else in life, the business side of writing is all about tradeoffs.

For those who simply want a physical keepsake to share with family and friends, the magic for them is in imagining those people’s reactions when the author hands them the book and delighting at their positive reactions. For those with a commercial goal, the magic of the writing life is refocused on the practicalities of the book as a product: how a great front cover will draw readers to it, how the back cover copy will intrigue them, and how blurbs from famous authors and reviewers will provide the credibility needed to convince the buyer to give it a try.

Regardless of the publishing decision made and the end goal, the result is a group of authors who completed one leg of the writing journey and now can display copies of their book to others. Those who wanted to share their book with family and friends get to do so, and hopefully the reactions are as positive as they’d hoped for, to keep the magic alive as a feeling of a task completed satisfactorily.

For those of us who want to sell books to strangers—the commercial outlook—the magic morphs again as these authors enter the marketing side of the writing life. Writing and editing were plenty hard as tasks, but figuring out how to sell one’s work in a market already saturated with books, with millions more being published each year, can turn that initial Pinterest board of dreams into a funhouse mirror. Ads that authors purchase to get their book seen might not pay off much or at all. Publicists’ promises might be unfulfilled. People tell the author how much they love the book, but they never post a review to boost its credibility with others who stumble upon it. Sales don’t match the expectations of the publisher and/or the authors themselves. Where is the magic of writing now?

For me, the magic is in the one thing I can control: my interactions with readers. I feel it at book signing events when I tell someone about a book in a genre they love, and they purchase it with enthusiasm and tell me they’re going home to start it immediately. I feel it when telling a book club the story behind the story and discussing their perceptions of the tale. I feel it when writing these blogposts, virtually connecting with readers and fellow writers to explain my thoughts and emotions about the writing life and “how the sausage gets made.”

I hope I convey some of that magic when I talk to you in a book club, retail setting, or book launch event, or when you read these words. It’s the best part of the writing life for me, and the reason I endure the pain of giving birth to yet another book every few years: so I have the pleasure of telling you about a new story you might enjoy.