My Novel

June 23, 2007: How my novel came to be

All my life I’ve wanted to be a writer. I love everything about writing – the chance to communicate my ideas, the creative challenges, the opportunities to entertain, or educate or empower my reader. 

I even love the tools of writing: Fine, smooth paper slick to the touch, a good pen with some heft, my computer. 

OK, so what don’t I love about writing? The writing of course.

So many writers say that they find writing painful that it’s become a dull cliché. But I’m in their camp. 

For me, it comes down to two things: Organization and motivation. I guess they work hand-in-hand – I find it incredibly hard to organize my thoughts, so its hard to motivate myself to go through that pain. 

OK, so where is this going? Well, about a year ago, I set myself a challenge to complete a long-ago started – and abandoned – novel. Not because I thought it would sell, not to get rich or even to get read, but just to do it. To finish something I began.  To reach my goal.

So, I set myself a daily word goal and I met it.  One day at a time. 500 words. How bad could that be? Every day I sat at my computer and struggled and typed and prayed until I had that 500 words. On some days, the dam broke, and I’d write 2,000 or more. 

I did that every day until the book was done.

I had some friends read it and they didn’t gag. So, I got myself a literary agent and he got me a book deal.

I make those things sound simple, but they’re really not. It’s incredibly hard to get an agent and I had great luck on my side. It’s even harder to get published. I think I was helped by the fact that it’s a genre book with an identifiable audience. 

The book won’t come out till the summer of 2008, which seems like an interminable wait. But the publishing process is a long one. I don’t think I can tell you much about it yet, either. I guess the title and a summary should be withheld unti there’s not enough time for someone to do a better job with it than I did.

But if you’re reading this post, will you do me a favor? Stay tuned.  I’ll update this page as the book gets closer to publication.  I may even write about the process about selling a first novel, getting it published, and then navigating the maze of how you promote and support it.

And maybe you could buy it, too. You don’t even have to read it! Use it as a doorstop, a paperweight, scrap.  Give it to a friend. Or, if you don’t like it, and enemy. I’m not proud.

But I want to sell a lot of copies. I want it to be a success. It was a lot of work to get this done and I want it to bear fruit.

I want all my children to do well.

Scott