Taking the Plunge!
After all these years of writing, why take the plunge into websites and ebooks at an time when most normal people of my age are enjoying the benefits of retirement and a little more time to smell the roses?
The important word in that statement is ‘normal’. I’ve never been normal. Even when I was a child, my mother knew that.
"You’ve been playing with all those children who are going back to their mothers clean and tidy. You look like you’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards and there’s not a single place on you that’s not filthy. The dirt must find you because you could never find that much on your own." She never appreciated my special skill in this area, or the ability to cause inanimate objects to fling themselves at me.
"Why is it that I clearly remember saying you couldn’t go to that event, and now I’ve just agreed to it and what’s more it feels like it’s my idea that you go?"
"Dorothy! Will you go back to bed. There are definitely no burglars in the attics." But there was a dog who got himself locked in there by mistake. I learned not to mention it was ghosts and other creatures I’d imagined were making all the noise– life was easier when I kept those quiet.
All my life characters and plots have invaded my brain, demanding attention. Now they drive me to distraction with their constant need to expand upon their stories, until I submit and write their tale. So, my computer is stacked with novels and stories for both young and old. Why do something about them now?
Recently I saw a quote from Isaac Asimov, the science fiction writer and philosopher. He said, “You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success – but only if you persist.”
My writer friends, and friends who are avid readers, have read my manuscripts and say that they are page turners with gripping plots, interesting characters, and well worth the time spent reading them. So hopefully that answers the talent part.
As the years keep racking up without my permission, and working on the premise it is never too late to change career, I have decided now is the time to persist and send my babies out into the wide world to see how they fare. I predict that some people will like them, some people will love them, and some will wonder why I bothered. I think that is about the correct balance even for very successful books – the difference is the passion level rises for all three categories in proportion to the level of success of the author.
Hence, the first of my novels will be available in ebook form very soon.
Watch this space.
