Don’t Give Up Your Publishing Dream. Hold On It’s Coming.
There was a time, not that long ago when I thought I would never publish a book. I wanted to write as a teenager, but I had to go to college. I wanted writing to be my college major, but I needed to make a living, so I chose Engineering. I wanted to write as a young woman, but I had a family. My desire to write never left me. College provided me with the opportunity to have a professional career and a comfortable lifestyle. Now that I am older, and my children are out of the house…I am finally writing.
I have an advantage as an author. I have a deep passion for writing. When someone asks me how I feel when I am writing there is no doubt that I am exuberant and excited.
How writing makes me feel
Writing makes me feel as if I am flying. Watching the words as they form on the page makes my heart sing. I am a decent writer. I know that my success in this profession, my fourth profession, will take hard work. I don’t care. I’m writing.
The first time
The first time I understood that writing was my passion was in the 11th grade. The teacher asked everyone to write on any subject they wanted. Everyone who completed the assignment would have an extra “A” added to their grade point average. I was a teenager newly affected by young love. You must understand that I was a seriously dorky teenager. I was NOT a popular kid. I wasn’t about to win most friendly, or best smile, or be the homecoming queen. I enjoyed school and was good at it.
The person I liked, of course, was one of the popular kids, He was six foot, five inches tall, skin like honey, big brown eyes…his girlfriend was one of the most popular cheerleaders. He didn’t know I existed.
I wrote about “ My Man.” The essay was about how I wanted this particular person to treat me if he was my man. And about how he would never be my man. I was a pragmatist even in the throes of unrequited love. When the teacher picked up the winning paper and started reading it, I almost jumped out of my seat. As he read my essay, I was excited to hear someone else speak my words. I loved watching the reaction to my words from my classmates. I was hooked.
My Addictions
To compound my addiction, I love to read. My parents would tell the stories of how I would read anything. I read all the books in our house. I read all the magazines. Food Cans. Newspapers. A full set of World Book encyclopedias. They once told me how they brought a contraption home called the “cycle teacher.” It was a big round red pancake. You opened the pancake, inserted round sheets into it then pulled a lever. The sheets rotated to a little display window. The window contained wonderful and random information. The next pull of the lever rotated questions about the facts previously displayed in the window. State of the art 1960’s technology. I lusted after it.
One night while my parents were asleep, I snuck the cycle teacher into my room. I stayed up all night reading and answering sheet after sheet until I had answered them all. Whew, was I in trouble the next day. I fell asleep in every class that day.
I am both a new and prolific writer. Visit my website tonicrowewriter.com. Volume 1 of my $7 memoir series, Never A $7 Whore, is for sale on Amazon. The second book, a short read, The Daytime Lives of the Ladies of the Night, will be out on August 27. The third full-length volume, Bullets, and Bosses Don’t Have Friends will be out on Sept. 21st. The fourth volume, The Love Secrets of the Ladies of the Night, (another short read) will be out on September 30th. The fifth volume, another full-length book, no name yet, will be released in October.
This mad release of books is due to all my many years in corporate America. My business writing consisted of emails, PowerPoint presentations, memos, and reports. Now that I can write whatever I want, I am writing whatever and whenever I want. I suspect I will slow down in the next few months, however, right now I am on a writing high.
Your Dreams are within Reach
I say all of this to make a simple point. It has taken me 30 years to write my very first book. Perfect conditions for writing your first book will never exist. Life is like that. Family, children, work, accidents, and illness will continue for as long as you live. Every real writer will write someday. Hold on to your writing dreams. If I can write and publish after all these life challenges, so can you. Get to work.
