For those who missed my blog appearance a couple of weeks
ago, here was the piece I wrote.
Going It Alone
Let me tell you a story.
A young man (ok a teenager) came up with this idea for a short
story. As he worked out the details the
story became longer and longer until it turned into a novella. But the story was not finished. Every idea like a snowball rolling down a
mountain side just grew and added more to the storyline. At last the young man looked down and saw he
had a novel he could write with the potential of others to follow. In the weeks that followed he carefully
crafted the first chapter and presented it to his father, an editor by trade,
for review. The next morning over
breakfast the Young Man asked his father what he thought of the first draft of
the chapter. His father sat down his
coffee, slammed his fist on the table and proceeded to tear the papers in half
and then into quarters. When he was done
he dropped the papers on the ground and left for work. Heartbroken the boy fell to the ground and
picked up the pieces and held them to his chest. Being late for school he hid the papers in his
room and ran out the door. As he briskly
walked to school he realized, My ideas
are good but my writing isn’t good enough yet.
I must fix that. He paid more
attention in English class as they studied the great writers of the past. But where he really excelled was in creative
writing. After working through some
grammatical problems his stories were always top of the class. In fact one was so good it was entered and
won an Ontario Provincial Contest. His
success mounted in high school as he was asked to write numerous school
plays. Never, in all that time did he
tell anyone outside his family about his books.
He had already finished the first one and was working on the
second. Then college came and there was
little time for working on books. So he
thought about a different part of the series every night before bed. He told one friend about them and let her
read a few chapters. She was astounded
and said it should be published. He was
unprepared for ridicule again and refused to try. After graduation he married his college
sweetheart who had no interest in the books as long as it wasn’t an inconvenience. They had 3 children together and finally
bought a computer. He began transferring
his books onto it and printing copies for his one supporter to keep safe. Through all the years, his mother loved to
hear the stories over and over. She said
he had a “Gift.” Little did he know when
he gave her the chapters that she was loaning them out to her friends. He built up quite a following as it turns out
as the ladies bickered over who received a chapter next. It was years later he found that out. Many years came and went and his parents came
to visit from far away. She asked to go
for a drive. That was always a fun thing
for the two of them to do. As they drove
she informed him that she had terminal cancer and that she would not be
visiting again or be around much longer.
She said she wanted one favor from him.
He said to name it and she said, “Publish your books.” When she got home she went straight into
hospice and died a couple weeks later.
As you
may have guessed, the main character of this story is me. The time to go it alone was over. I made a promise I would keep. It took time but I found an agent who found
me a publisher. I now have 4 books in
print with more to come as time permits.
Going
it alone is very dangerous. It is hard
to grow as a writer without constructive feedback. It may be harsh but break it down to
information you can use. Going it alone
also means that no one else sees your work.
Trust me, there is no better feeling than when someone comes up and says
they loved your book. Deep down you
wrote it to be read. It wants to be
read. Polish it up and find a
publisher. Do your homework and surround
yourself with good people. Don’t wait
for the horrible wake-up call I did before acting. What’s the worst that can happen? You’re right back where you are, but you
tried.
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