Books Started: 20+
Books Finished: 0
I guess if I ever finish what I start so that I would be able to submit to a publisher, I'd know if my writing is marketable. When people ask why I never bring anything to completion, my answer is that some day, if I'm ever bedridden or incarcerated, I'll have time to finish something. Until then, I feel the need to live my real life rather than write about a fictional one.
So, what have I (partially) written in my life? As a kid, I wrote mysteries, ripping off Nancy Drew big time. I also wrote countless stories about owning a fictional motel in a fictional part of the country and the fictional people who visited it. These were the days when my teachers would tell me I was one of the best young writers they'd ever seen, and then would suggest that perhaps it would be advantageous if I wrote about things I knew, rather than things I wish I knew. But what does a kid know? I was a dreamer, not a realist.
Next, in my young adulthood, I wrote about the countryside because that's where I wanted to be. After a few short years of farming, raising sheep, chickens, and a multitude of crops, I felt I was qualified to place my characters in rural settings. Just as I firmly established myself (in my own mind) as a hippie naturalist and poet, I suddenly found myself living in the big city, raising a child and all that goes along with it, and being busy every minute -- far to busy to think about writing.
After I moved to Oklahoma, and long before the author of Fifty Shades of Grey made her millions, I wrote -- and nearly finished -- a long and horrifically pornographic novel which, to this day, I feel was far better than E.L. James' big moneymaker. Alas, for a number of reasons, it was necessary for me to throw the entire manuscript into a fire a few years ago.
So now, I just write this blog. They say that if you're meant to write, you'll find the time. Maybe all this time I've been meant to be a blogger. I always find the time, no matter what. I love doing it, and people actually read it, which is more than I can say for all the other phases of my writing life. I continue to feel good about recording the goings-on of Route 66, and unless I do get hauled off to prison any time soon, this is where you will continue to find me.
4 comments:
Laurel, I think you are an excellent writer. I look forward to reading your stories about the day at Alton Station.
Thank-you for writing this post. I think my score is books started 50, books finished 0. I love to write, but am not comfortable with people reading what I write. I have all the time in the world, just don't think my stories are sellable. Self-publishing is all the "in thing" now. C
Wow, 20+ books started, amazing.
When I was in college I wrote some short stories and submitted them to the English department for publication in a short-story paper they had. Alas, none of them were selected. One I thought was good was about a burglar who robs a house. He can't fence any of the loot, so he goes someplace to think about what to do. He meets the lady of the house there and starts to like her. That night he breaks in again and puts everything back.
Laurel, You are a must read for me everyday - love your pictures.
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