An End and a Beginning

I've been blogging here for some time now.  For those of you who have followed my blogs, I thank you.  From now on I can be found at my new website www.maryellenbramwell.com.  It is up and running, and I will be blogging there from now on.

Please go to my new website and "follow" me and "like" me.  Then tell all of your friends about it as well!  It would be wonderful to have a lot of "buzz" going before my book is released in August.  Again, thank you again for being there for me.

Woohoo!

I only have one story today.  Less than a week ago I signed a book contract for my first novel, The Apple of My Eye.  I have experienced a myriad of emotions since that moment.  It is exciting, humbling, scary, unbelievable, overwhelming, . . .  Once I received the contract back with all of the signatures, I had to get right to work, because I was also given a fair amount of "homework" to do too.  I am new to this side of writing since this is my debut novel.

In the last few days I have written a synopsis for the back cover, a shorter one (for who knows what), and a bio.  I have recruited help from family to find readers/reviewers, and I have searched for an editor (the publisher provides a final edit as well).  Today I got a haircut, my makeup done, and my picture taken.  I've also been working on ideas for the book cover design and my side of the marketing.

The strangest part of it all is that to do this right I have to promote myself, constantly!  It's definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I keep thinking of what this can mean to my family, and that keeps me grounded.  I don't want to squander this opportunity that God has certainly had a hand in creating for me.  That brings me to a feeling of responsibility, and that is somewhat sobering.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as excited as a mosquito at a family reunion, and I am very grateful.  But I also want to make sure I don't screw this up!

False Endings

I'm sure you've all read those books where things seem to be winding down.  Loose ends are being tied up.  However, there are still sixty pages of the book remaining, and you can't imagine what is left to say.  Then, slam bang, something unexpected happens, and those sixty pages now seem short to resolve everything.  This can be a fun technique, and I admit to using it in my first book.

Now, the point of this blog is comparing writing to real life, finding those common threads and trends.  I'm sorry to say this will be the case with this blog as well.  I have a tooth, a tooth with a story that just refuses to end!

It started with a cavity.  Then it involved a root canal.  My dentist began the root canal but could not complete it.  She found two roots but not the others.  So, I was referred to an endodontist.  The first appointment with her was just a consult.  The second appointment was a bust.  Apparently, despite my initial arrangements, doctor's office and insurance office were not speaking the same language.  I walked away rather than cough up $700 on the spot.  Several weeks later, with assurance that communication had been successfully completed, I went for the actual root canal.  Now this is done at a dental school and they perform root canals in two visits.  After two hours in the chair for part one, I'm beginning to feel like maybe my tooth story is winding down.  Not so!

This weekend that tooth developed an abscess!  Fortunately I have a friend who is a dentist, so I called him.  He said that's what the root canal was supposed to take care of and that maybe they had missed a root.  He prescribed some antibiotics.  After a couple of attempts this morning I reached the dental school and am headed there this afternoon.

When all of this is done, the root canal still needs to be finished, the cavity filled - back at the original dentist, and then probably a crown.  All of this for ONE tooth!

Bottom line is I don't mind when fictional stories go on in unexpected ways, but I'm not a fan in real life!

Really?

I'm going to tell you a story.  Only, unlike most of my written stories, this one is true.

My family recently found a new dentist.  She practices a few towns over, however our towns being what they are, that's not actually very far away.  Her office is located on the second floor of a three of four story, square building, older yet still functional.

My husband and I have both gone to this dentist, and we took our seven-year-old son there, as well.  So, far this doesn't sound like much of a story does it?  But, I promise, this information is all relevant.

Not so long ago, a sting was conducted on a prostitution ring that caught some, now embarrassed, government officials.  You guessed it, it was being conducted on one of the floors above our dentist office!

Really?!

One of my favorite things that I learned about writing fiction is that everyone has a secret, and so the writing is all about how you reveal those individual secrets.  But I wonder, in real life, if I actually want to know all of those secrets!

Unlikable characters

It's interesting the things we read.  I've been reading a book the last few days that isn't my favorite.  It has been tempting to put it down and not finish it, but I've invested enough time in it that I feel obligated to see it through.

If you read the title of my blog you will know why I'm not too fond of this book: unlikable characters.  I read and keep hoping these characters will stop and start making different decisions.  But, so far, my hope has been vain.

I know that when writing, the characters I create should be flawed.  However, they still need to be likable enough that you can look past those flaws or at least accept them.  

In real life this is a tricky thing.  We should love all men, but with some that is harder than others.  And unlike a novel, it's not appropriate to just discard them because we don't like them.  There is also the concern that we might be the unlikable character.  That is definitely a sobering thought.  I suppose the only way to deal with these concerns is to turn to another book - the Good Book.

Maya Angelou said, "While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation."

Do What You Love

A few days ago I was part of a community service event.  It was held at a local college and brought together students as well as faculty.  I found myself working beside a young man, an English literature major as it turns out.  We talked as we worked and I found it hard to contain my excitement about being a writer.  I truly love this!

I think about the ups and downs of writing novels or articles, and honestly the downs aren't really downs.  There may be set backs, like struggling with how to resolve certain plot points or reaching the right person to interview, but they just aren't that big of a deal.  I love this too much to let it get me down.

There are many aspects of my life that are similar to my writing.  I love my family and I love my faith.  So, it's no chore to work on these things as well.  Sure, there are set backs, but that's part of life isn't it?  (I find when I'm doing something that I don't love it's time to ask why I'm doing it in the first place.)

The flip side of this can be true as well.  There are things that I just have to do, like the dishes, for example.  As long as I have to do it anyway, I may as learn to love it.  Over the years that's what I've learned to do.  I actually don't mind doing dishes these days.

Life is just too short to not love what it's about!

Impatience and Timing

Those of you who follow my blog will know that I recently finished writing my first novel.  So, I've been working on book number two, and I've got to say, it's an elusive little creature.  Just when I think I've got the right direction and feel for it, I look at it again and think maybe not.  I've even considered abandoning this particular idea in favor of one of my others.  Which brings me to my title.

One of my other ideas is actually my very favorite idea.  I like it better than the novel I just wrote and better than the one I am attempting to write now.  Whenever I grow disappointed in my current efforts, I toy with writing this favorite idea.  But, and here's the important part, I'm not ready to write it yet.  I don't want to write it and not do it justice.  I have heard of movie makers having this same sense about a movie that then became their magnum opus.  

And so, I retreat to my other ideas, working to hone my craft, to practice and practice and practice, knowing that one day all of this will pay off.  One day I will be able to write that book, and hopefully you will see why I had to wait and why the waiting was worth it.

We live in a society that does not much regard delayed gratification.  We want it all and we want it all right now!  This is short-sighted and will not serve us well.  That is what I remind myself when I grow impatient, when I threaten to butcher what should be and will be, eventually, a wonderful story.  It was the story I was born to write, but just not yet . . .