Read Local

Learning All I Can…

My community library holds an event called Read Local where authors from all over Iowa are invited to talk about their books, their writing process, and their road to publication (and whatever else they or the audience is interested in.)  I have attended a few of the events and plan to attend as many more as I can because each time I go, I learn something about myself as a writer.  The other night Joel W. Barrows shared his first published novel, Deep White Cover, a crime fiction about illegal immigration.

I found Joel to be very straight forward about the road to publication.  He shared his cautionary tale to us wanna be’s and reminded us to write for the love of having people read our stories.  Getting rich off of a book (or series of books) is akin to being a Hollywood star or a professional athlete.  Very few actors and athletes reach that pinnacle. Very few authors, too.  He went on to say that he would bet the very best novels ever written have never been published.

Joel is a regular guy. I like that about him.  He has a family and a job and he makes time to write. Not such an easy thing to do.  Writing takes time and concentration.  It’s like playing golf.  It has its own speed and you couldn’t make it into a tennis match if you tried.  Like Joel, as difficult as it can be, I make time to write.

Think about things you like to do.  How much time do you put into it? Who or what helps you get better at it? What rewards do you get from it?