When I was in 3rd grade, a man by the name of Wilson Rawls came to our school to plug his new book, Where The Red Fern Grows. (He also authored Summer Of The Monkeys.) Our teacher asked us to write our own stories. I took that assignment seriously. After writing it, my mother (always a good sport for that kind of thing), typed up all ten pages, careful to include all of my spelling and grammatical errors. My teacher was somewhat shocked by the lengthy nature of the story. (3rd grader stories are rarely more than a single paragraph.) She told me that I had a knack for such a thing and encouraged me to keep writing. I was happy to do just that, as I enjoyed writing stories very much. I have been writing stories ever since.
I have written over 50 full length novels so far, several more short stories and I have hundreds of ideas waiting in line to be written. I’ve self published 4 books as an experiment. I wanted to know if they were good enough to sell. They were the very first stories that I wrote as a youth. I’ll have to admit, they have done better than I expected. Of course, I still have not found a way to effectively market them, but I think I have found a few ideas that will change that.
When leaving college, I imagined myself as a great author, but the need of a regular paycheck took priority. Between work, family and other pursuits, that vision of becoming a well-known author faded. However, over the years, I have read what I could about writing, and I continued to write whenever I had a spare moment. It was my hobby, my escape and my therapy.
Now my life has changed again. The children are grown and gone, my back and neck are a daily challenge. Writing is now once again a priority. However, since those early days, I have learned much about writing a story. I have gained a great deal more life experience, and I understand people much better. Most importantly, I have gained a greater desire to write than I have ever had before. I have opened myself to other types of writing than just books of fiction.
I believe there are a lot of people out there who dream of one day writing a book. Most of those people, who envision writing that next great novel, doubt that a book is within their capability. I am a guy with dyslexia. I seem to be handicapped at spelling and following grammatical rules. If I am able to write a book, then anyone can. Fiction requires more creativity, but even that is possible.
From time to time people ask me how I can write a whole book. The best answer I can think of, is to tell them, that it is done one word at a time. A book is hard work. Writing a good book takes vocabulary, ability to be understood, patience, discipline and planning. If you can do that, a book is possible. Today the computer has magic functions like spell check and a grammar check.
If you start thinking of the average book of 350 pages, that might seem intimidating. However, to think of 500 or 1,000 words, it is not so bad. This post is already 900 words. A book is a cumulative thing, one page at a time. However, the last thing that we should be worried about is the length of the story, (unless it is too long). Telling the story should be the focus. After all, people don’t ask book reviewers if the book is thick enough. They only care about the story.
Years ago in that little classroom, Wilson Rawls told us that he was a hillbilly who had once had a couple of dogs. He said that he was not a writer. He told us that he married a school teacher, or he could never have made his story make sense. He held up a huge stack of paper to show how much he had written, in order to get that single book finally acceptable. It occurred to me, that if he could do it, I could.
A few years ago, I renewed my interest to publish, when I copyrighted my first book. I was shocked as I scanned over the copyright records. Wilson Rawls only wrote two stories. He wrote several studies about those two books, but he never wrote another story. Or at least he never published any others.
On this blog, I will be offering a few thoughts, which might help someone else burning with the desire to write. Perhaps they can avoid pitfalls and obstacles that plague most writers out there. I will not claim to be some kind of expert. Don’t expect to find any books or programs to purchase on the subject of how to write a story. Any writing hints, or any word of wisdom about the subject of writing, is absolutely free here.
This blog will come with thoughts, ideas and samples. If your desire is writing, I hope you will find this blog interesting. I’m just days away from starting a new story. I thought I would take you through each step along the way, as I begin the writing process. So, I’ll post again in a few days.
Until then, may your ideas be plentiful.
Jene
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