Experience #30 Become a Published Author

When I was in fifth grade I discovered a book’s magical ability to swallow you into an entirely different world. I devoured book after book, reading my way through the public library’s stock. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I wanted to create those escapes instead of just read myself into them.

My first story was nothing more than white paper folded in half with a red and blue marker title. (Not unlike what my daughter comes up with today). After several such “books,” I wrote what I believed to be my masterpiece. In seventh grade, I received an ivory Brother typewriter for Christmas and then I commenced the slow, tedious task of typing my great story without typing lessons. I surrendered to the arduous process, and an aunt took pity on me and finished typing that first story, all 128 pages.

Thrilled when she handed me those three neat and bound manuscripts, I preceded to share the story with anyone and everyone, anxiously awaiting their feedback. Was it so horrible that I should give it up or was it the best thing they’d ever read and I was on my way to becoming the author I dreamed of becoming?

That manuscript truly had a long way to go before it would be considered good by my standards today, but the process isn’t so different than what I’m doing right now. My book, Muddy Bayou, is now available to the public, and I wait anxiously for people to read it, wondering if people will deem it good or horrible.

Except of course today the stakes are higher. I’m no longer the eleven-year-old that didn’t understand what it took to become an author. I’ve always been the storyteller though. Even before I knew to write the stories down, I’ve enjoyed entertaining people with stories.

And a storyteller isn’t a storyteller without an audience. For years, I’ve kept my audience confined to a small few, but if there was ever a time to go for that dream, this would be the year. This year when I crammed everything that I’ve put off doing my entire life into one year, including putting my book out there for a wider audience, is the perfect year to take such risks.

I anxiously await your opinions, but I’m already working on the next story I will tell. I won’t take so long to share this one with my audience though.

My new website has a special page for you to leave your opinions once you’ve finished reading the book. So let me know what you think by leaving me a message and sharing your opinions with others who may want to become an audience of my storytelling.