What I Would Tell My Younger Writer Self by A.M.Westerling

Like so many other authors, I sat down and wrote my first book because I had read one too many terrible books - the ones that make you wonder how they ever got published! I was certain I could do better. So, without having a clue about how to plot, how to develop characters, how to “show, don’t tell”, etc. etc., I sat down and wrote my first novel, a Regency romance. It took me a number of years and I actually didn’t finish it until I retired but finally I typed The End. I still have it, in a box in the store room in our basement, all 313 pages of it, before the days of electronic submissions.

Now what?

In those days, Harlequin offered a romance novel critique service and I sent the book there in hopes of getting some feedback. Which I did. I received a lovely lilac colored folder containing a novel evaluation form, a letter and a certificate of accomplishment.

However I did not pay attention to said feedback. I only focused on the good ie your writing is excellent – smooth, vivid, clear and involving; your dialogue is equally well done; your characters come to life on the page.

Silly me, I disregarded the bad. The editor pointed out problems with the continuity and changes in point of view as well as problems with the pacing of the book. Something about it being “erratic”. I could understand the first two but hadn’t a clue about what was meant by erratic pacing. Seeing as I didn’t know what that meant, I simply ignored it and kept on writing.

Two books later and multiple rejections from editors all telling me my pacing was uneven, or slow, it finally dawned on me I had better figure out what pacing was and how to fix it. So, lesson number one and one that could have saved me years of rejections – pay attention to both the good and the bad comments.

Lesson number two? Don’t jump at the first opportunity. I submitted my second book to only one agent and was immediately signed. How easy was that, I thought and I was thrilled because surely now my books would find a home with a publisher. Only that didn’t happen and the agent and I parted ways after five years without a sale. She’s a lovely lady who successfully represents other authors but it didn’t work out for me. In hindsight, I should have subbed to more agents at that time to find a better fit for me and my career.

But that’s all water under the bridge. Now I’ve found a terrific little Canadian publisher and my career is humming along quite nicely. I haven’t hit the NYT Best Sellers list and probably never will but every good review I get is payment enough for me. 

And, I was fortunate enough to be included in the BWL Publishing's Canadian Historical Brides Collection with Barkerville Beginnings, a sweet romance set in the historical gold rush town of Barkerville, B.C.

  It's available at your favorite online retailer HERE.

I Shoulda Kept on Writin'

I began to pen stories at age five, or rather I drew the pictures and my mother wrote in the words I dictated to her.
I loved telling tales, writing of ancient Egypt and Rome (I'd just watched the moved Cleopatra). I also wrote with my best friend. Together we concocted a murder mystery ala Alfred Hitchcock (we'd just watched the movie Marnie).

We drew pictures to go with our stories and that was half the fun. My best drawing had nothing to do with my novels but was of my favorite cat, Lucretia. I might have been fifteen when I drew this.

When I started working in an office at eighteen, and was so efficient I had time left over, I wrote more stories and kept some. I read them not too long ago and one was very good.

But at nineteen I joined the navy and traveled all over, married, had children, and let my writing slide.

I should have honed my skills, taken classes, and kept on writing. I had a workshop with bestselling author Sherryl Woods years later, and she said in the 80s everyone was being published. I missed my chance, because I hadn't written through most of the 70s and throughout the 80s. I only picked it up again in the mid-nineties.

When we were stationed in San Diego in the late 70s, I should have taken creative writing classes, but somewhere along the way I'd lost the urge to write. An urge I once couldn't deny or ignore, it had burned inside me, compelling me to constantly spin tales.

I forced myself to write again in the late 90s, to see what I could come up with. My story meandered all over the place. I researched at the Library of Congress, got library loans, and stuffed all the fascinating details into my book. No internet for the average person existed yet.
I thought I knew everything there was about writing, but soon found out I knew very little. I had rejections galore.

My next move was to join critique groups and learn to edit my work. Busy with family and a job, years went by before I polished my first novel. A small press took it on, but their e-books were overpriced, and paperback prices outrageous. Finally, a good friend invited me to submit to my current publisher, BWL, and my first book, now titled Escape the Revolution, sold very well.

To sum it up, if you have a dream, pursue it!

My latest project is part of the Canadian Brides Series.

 

Blurb: In 1784, Englishwoman Amelia Latimer sails to New Brunswick to marry a man chosen by her father. Amelia is repulsed and refuses the marriage. She is attracted to a handsome Acadian, Gilbert, a man beneath her. Gilbert fights the incursion of Loyalists from the American war to hold onto his heritage. Will they find love when events seek to destroy them?

 

E-book and paperback are available at Amazon and All Markets

For more information on me and my books, please visit my website: www.dianescottlewis.org

 

Diane Scott Lewis grew up in California, traveled the world with the navy, edited for magazines and an on-line publisher. She lives with her husband in Pennsylvania.

If I Knew Then... by Victoria Chatham

Ah, yes. Hindsight is wonderful. If I knew then what I know now, I would never have listened to the naysayers – those people who didn't take my writing ambitions seriously and joked about the stories I produced. My earliest audience was my family and I know I don’t need to go into details here as I’ve met many writers whose paths have been similar to mine.

The results, however, have differed. In my case, I simply did not have the confidence to persist. Never mind that I had been awarded prizes for essay writing at school, but an essay is a very different beast to that of a work of fiction. I was always a reader and when I discovered romance in my teens I thought I was in heaven. There were times, even then, when I thought I could do better but there was always that gremlin on my shoulder whispering ‘no, you can’t.’ It wasn’t until I had children that I started writing again but I still lacked the confidence to pursue it as a career.

Roll forwards a few (many) years and, now married to a Canadian and living in Calgary, I heard an interview with author Gail Bowen (Joanne Kilbourne mysteries) in which she stated (as closely as I can recall) that ‘people who have lived exotic lives often make the best authors as they have so much material to draw from.’ It was at that point that I took good at my life and decided I did have a lot of material to draw from. I also now had support for my writing ambitions as my Canadian husband (now my dear departed as he passed away in 2001) signed me up for a writing course and I joined my first writers' group.

Groups don’t and won’t work for everyone, but I finally found my fit and gained the confidence in my writing that had been so sadly lacking. For the first time in my life, I was surrounded by people who ‘got it’ and understood the quirks and foibles that make writers who they are. In 2012, at age sixty-nine, I self-published my first book. Since then I’ve written seven more. I look at young writers today and so admire their apparent fearlessness, their willingness to jump right in and write whatever they like.

So, what would I tell my younger self? Ignore the naysayers, brush that gremlin away, and go for it. Take that workshop, go to that conference, learn the craft but then cut to the chase and write the damn book!

SEE ALL MY BOOKS HERE