SEVERAL YEARS AGO I DECIDED it was time to quit thinking about something I had always wanted to attempt and just do it. Now I know that sounds a lot like an ad for Nike but it’s true. One day I sat down, put my fingers on the keyboard, and began to write. A few months later I was finished. Google opened a wonderland of opportunities to get my story published and so off it went to the first welcome mat I found. In a surprisingly short time I received a most impressive looking contract telling me how wonderful my manuscript was. It said I had superior potential and I forget all the other bloated adjectives. Then I got to page thirty-four of the contract and was told that for the small sum of $3988.00 I could have my fantastic novel published. One would think I had lived long enough to know it couldn’t be that easy.That novel now lives in the sub-basement of my computer.
Thus began my real journey toward writing a decent novel. I wrote, and rewrote, and rewrote the rewrites until I finally had something I felt a few others might not throw in the trash before giving it a chance. Then I enlisted ten friends (most writers themselves) to read my new manuscript. They offered advice and said this one was worthy of my trying to get published. My friend, and first rate author, Athol Dickson offered to take a look. Maybe this time I would find some validation. A few weeks later Athol wrote back to tell me I basically needed to rework all fifty-four chapters before it would be ready to send off to an agent or publisher; “the wounds of a friend.” One more major rewrite.
To wind up a long story – four years, tens of thousands of discarded words, four rewrites, and several polite rejections later I have an agent! Now it’s Les Stobbe’s turn to convince others to take a look at The Source. As for me, I already have another story to tell. Who knows one day I might even rummage around in the basement and see if there is any hope for that lonely first story that still waits to be told to the world.
Now on to the next leg of the journey …
Full of salient points. Don't stop blievenig or writing!
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