TBH: I "never" wanted to write a novel...!!!! NEVER. Yet, I've written
short stories and informational pieces for nearly 35 years. Usually my
offerings have been for niche markets on specific subjects. I enjoyed
writing them....but a novel? No...it was a pain in the @$$.
I moderated another site on the internet and the folks "seemed" to
like my "style/voice". So, I started a thread about a subject that I
would write about every evening. Well, it got past 10,000 words, so
I put an end to it. I re-read it and thought, "Hmmm, this ain't bad." LOL.
In the meantime, some of the folks were copy and pasting it so they
could have it, "physically". That's when I pulled the thread.
I took the short story to an English Lit teacher at the High School to
get her opinion. I'll be darned if she didn't incorporate it into her
class curriculum. Then, she started "harping" about my finishing the
story. This continued for the next 5 years. Harp, Harp, Harp.... That's
all I heard out of this woman. LOL.
The editor of our local paper wanted to run it as a weekly series
in the paper and I declined, being concerned about copyright issues.
Then he crawled onto my case about finishing it. HECK...I thought it
was finished. Both disagreed. So....I relented and a year later I typed,
"The End" on "Box of Dreams".
"Well," I thought, "this is the end of it." WRONG!!! Everyone that read
the piece asked the same question. "When's the next one coming out?"
So, I kinda got snookered into this gig. Yet, I've learned to "Love" it.
I cannot deny that. Just persevere and keep re-writing your text till
you find the "voice" that is uniquely your own.
It's an interesting journey. One that lasted 7 years for my first story.
Best of luck, P. L. 500
Grumpy.