So it began 25 whole years ago; an adolescent me would scribble and doodle in excercise books at school or or notepads I found. I began a story, the bones of a novel in my immature way. It was mawkish, it was cliched, it was stilted; I see today, but then..back then it was dynamite and I'd be rich and famous by the time i was 20 and watching the premier of the movie version by 25 at the lastest!! It all seemed so easy! I continued writing throughout the years; poetry here, scratchings of a short there, and idea or project here...but I never actually GOT anywhere or DID anything. Why?? Now THERE is a very good question. I don't know. Fear? Maybe. Anxiety? Possibly. But LIFE got in the way. I kept making excuses and they were damn good ones right then! I don't have the time; x & y are more important; I don't know where to start, even if I finish it HOW will I publish it? I'd doodle again. I'd revisit old projects, do an edit or two, add a page, take a paragraph, rewrite this bit or that bit. Then I'd stop and the months, even years would flow by and....nothing. Of course I got nowhere because I did NOTHING!
The suddenly I had a chance meeting with someone pretty darn famous and we got to talking, became friends and I wondered about my writing. Then I read a very good book whose title I shan't plug yet but is about the Art of not donating a copulation (ahem) and stuff just began to gel. I mean, why do I write? Why do ANY of us write? Do we write solely to make money or is money a side effect? I write because it is, as I told my friend, in my blood. I can't NOT write, it'd go against my nature! I THINK in rhyming couplets some days, seriously, do you think this mind of mine is normal??? Bwaaaahahahahah! But I digress, I write because I love it, I live it, I breathe it, it is a part of me. A Channel. A release. An expression. A road I can never resist following for very long. It's like New Mexico and Hotel California; you can leave or check out for as long as you like but you never, ever, truly leave! Ever. Never. Ever ever. Ever. Everr
Anyway. So here I am, having these thoughts and feeling my creative juices wake up in a way quite different than they had before. Side track; you see this is what happened. I spoke to this chap on the phone NOT knowing WHO he was. A brit like myself we got off on the right foot instantly. We chattered comedy, things we missed about good ol' Blighty. We laughed up a storm and enjoyed one another's company. He suggested I Google his name later and I did and twas then, my kind and sympathetic readers, that your protaganist discovered the identity of his mystery interlocutor! Aha! My discovery was this; guy just like me, same interests, many things in common, same loves, same thoughts about many things.....famous dude...but just like me. Vis-a-vis if he can do it then ha-why the procreation cannot I?? Boom! Lightbulb over my head, strike of lightning from on High! Burning shrubbery, James Mason voices in my head (thanks for that one Izzard!)...etc etc. I finally GOT it. After 25 bleeding years of writing I got it. I'm writing for me and the rest is gravy. Write what i want, love it, nurture it and get it out there and if you're lucky, other people will like it too! Right?
So I spent a frantic week and a bit gathering together material, editing, adding and removing, taking advice of friends and family reviewers into account, desinging a cover or several, gaining grey hairs and the disdain of my wife and children. I worked and I worked and I worked. Now I have a full time job with funny hours and two 4 month old baby girls (yes TWO!!) so sleep is something I now consider a luxury rather than a right, free time likewise but I MADE time. I set myself a deadline and started putting some viral marketing out there. I would stick to that deadline like my life depended on it and NO EXCUSE would be valid. NONE. NOT ANY. NINGUNO. ZILCHO, ZERO...nopsey no! Now here's the shocker. Me, Mr. 25-Years-From-Concept-To-Proof, Mr. Procrastinator, Mr. Delayer. Is spot bloody on schedule. On the nose, the money, the moneky's big red butt. I did the edits, I got a spot on cover made, I proof read until my eyes bled, I got all kinds of strained looks from my wife and it's right there. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and CreateSpace paperback designs ready to go! Final proof awaiting review and I will just need to hit the "Publish" button and.......well then we'll see won't we? We will see.
Comments