When Creative Writing courses began to appear on college and university syllabi, I viewed them as an adult indulgence in the pure pleasure of being able to let ideas and words flow without constraint. It wasn't until I was truly bitten by the writing bug that I realised that, for an author today, writing a story is only half the tale. Time and energy, lots of it, have to be devoted to the twin demons: Marketing and PR. You are even advised to consider how you will market your book before you start to write it and certainly must keep it in mind at all stages of the process. So much for letting the imagination roam free.