Day 11 - On Being a Writer

On Being a Writer

One of the reasons I came to Bolivia was to write. I know I could just as easily write in Kaufman or Ennis.  A good writer should be able to write anywhere.  Right?  But I felt I needed something more.  A little bit of inspiration.  A little less responsibility.  Bolivia has been in my heart for a long time, so I hope I can make it work.

For years I have spent part or all of my summers writing, and sometimes even Christmas break, but then the school year would get in the way.  Those who are teachers know what the first weeks of school are like.  There never seems to be enough time.  Even after years of planning, even knowing what you will teach the first days and weeks of school, there never is time.  I often found myself staying late or coming to school on the weekends.  I would say the first month of school I averaged 50 or more hours a week. 

That meant anything that I started to write in the summer got put away by mid-August.  Sometimes it would be put away for months even years.

I have a novel I am working on now.  It is maybe 95% finished.  It is the story of the Trojan War, but without the supernatural mess found in Greek mythology.  I love history and I love Greek mythology.  When I was a kid, I devoured every book on Greek mythology I could find.  One day, about 20 years ago, I decided to write down everything I knew about the Trojan War and put it in order as best I could.  I have concentrated on just four characters.  If you read Homer or the ancient writers, one character will be a hero at one moment and a crying baby the next.  There is no consistency of any character.  So I have tried to make my characters more consistent; make them believable to a modern audience.  Without the supernatural, it could an event that really happened.

This summer I have been working on one major thing, changing the book from 3^rd person to 1^st person.  Sometimes I discover grammatical errors or spelling errors.  I hate when I read a book and discover an error.  I don’t want someone to find that in my books.  Part 1 is finished and Part 2 is seeing a finish in just a few days.  Then I plan to reread it two or three times more looking for errors.  That is the most time consuming part of the writing process to me.  But I think before July is finished, so will my novel.

My friend, Denise, told me about publishing on Amazon.  I have tried to publish the old fashioned way, finding an agent and him finding me a publishing house.  I spent a lot of money doing that.  A few so called agents ripped me off.  Besides, if you don’t have the name, publishing houses won’t publish.  They want someone who is known.  Amazon has moved into the publishing market, in hopes of carving out a sizeable niche.  You that are readers, know you buy from Amazon.  Maybe by the end of summer, Amazon will have my first book.

One of the reasons I came to Bolivia was to write.  I have more ideas that I’ll tell you about later.  But my plan is to write in the morning, teach in the afternoon, come home around 3:30 or 4:00 to rest a bit, take a nice evening walk, and write a bit more before bed.  The nice walks help with the inspiration.

So that is my idea.  What do you think?