Retirement used to make me think of old age, pension income and a slow decline to the wooden box. That was when I was twenty odd. I wanted to become a best selling author. I wrote from the age of eleven and I'm still going strong.
Why?
I am now a lot older and still waiting for the contract that will launch me into the literary world, yet something drives me on. It isn't the money, that's for sure. It's recognition and the hope that, like many of my favourite authors, I will be read a hundred years from now. In the meantime I published one book of poetry and one political thriller, both E published. Sales are almost non existent.
Writing is something I do for personal pleasure. I love story telling. The excitement of creating a plot and seeing it come alive is a mental problem I wrestle with long into the small hours.
I am currently working on a novel that has drawn interest from several readers, but I've heard all that before. So with just a handful of chapters to go and a lot of editing, I am keeping my fingers crossed that this time I will be successful.
This time things are different. By sheer chance I happened to join a business network a few months ago and clicked through a lot of posts until one caught my eye. A lady from New Zealand was setting up a E Publishing company and was looking for samples of work in thriller/adventure stories. I sent her three chapters and she liked it. However, she had asked for work that had been drafted three times. I thought it had. She likened it to a first draft. We worked on the first chapter until she was happy with the result.
The first chapter's content never changed. Neither did the characters or the action. What changed was something that I found so hard to do on my own. The characters had feelings and emotions and the story was full of atmosphere. After years of writing I understood what proper editing was about and why I had a stack of rejection letters from agents. I also learned how much I needed to learn about the writing craft.
I was determined to learn and was surprised when she agreed to edit the whole novel. I made up my mind then that no matter what I had to endure, I was going to succeed.
Four months and a lot of red ink later, I have learned a hell of a lot. Gradually I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and I do believe my editor is beginning to smile. I look back on the first chapters and compare them to the original. Same story but now I can see everything that's going on in my mind's eye. I can smell and touch and feel the tension. I am thankful I have a thick skin because I believe that is the only way a writer is going to learn his/her craft. Criticism is the best tool we have to improve our work. My message to anyone aspiring to be an author is to take the blows, say thank you nicely, then keep going.
My editor is Suraya Dewing, the CEO of The Story Mint. Her site will be up and running in March and if you are reading this blog you will want to know her. You will also want to join a very select group of writers in a closed group on Face book called 'Writer's Pen' Send me a friend request if you are serious about being published and join us and be part of a new E publishing revolution.
Why?
I am now a lot older and still waiting for the contract that will launch me into the literary world, yet something drives me on. It isn't the money, that's for sure. It's recognition and the hope that, like many of my favourite authors, I will be read a hundred years from now. In the meantime I published one book of poetry and one political thriller, both E published. Sales are almost non existent.
Writing is something I do for personal pleasure. I love story telling. The excitement of creating a plot and seeing it come alive is a mental problem I wrestle with long into the small hours.
I am currently working on a novel that has drawn interest from several readers, but I've heard all that before. So with just a handful of chapters to go and a lot of editing, I am keeping my fingers crossed that this time I will be successful.
This time things are different. By sheer chance I happened to join a business network a few months ago and clicked through a lot of posts until one caught my eye. A lady from New Zealand was setting up a E Publishing company and was looking for samples of work in thriller/adventure stories. I sent her three chapters and she liked it. However, she had asked for work that had been drafted three times. I thought it had. She likened it to a first draft. We worked on the first chapter until she was happy with the result.
The first chapter's content never changed. Neither did the characters or the action. What changed was something that I found so hard to do on my own. The characters had feelings and emotions and the story was full of atmosphere. After years of writing I understood what proper editing was about and why I had a stack of rejection letters from agents. I also learned how much I needed to learn about the writing craft.
I was determined to learn and was surprised when she agreed to edit the whole novel. I made up my mind then that no matter what I had to endure, I was going to succeed.
Four months and a lot of red ink later, I have learned a hell of a lot. Gradually I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and I do believe my editor is beginning to smile. I look back on the first chapters and compare them to the original. Same story but now I can see everything that's going on in my mind's eye. I can smell and touch and feel the tension. I am thankful I have a thick skin because I believe that is the only way a writer is going to learn his/her craft. Criticism is the best tool we have to improve our work. My message to anyone aspiring to be an author is to take the blows, say thank you nicely, then keep going.
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