Writing a Book

For years I have loved to write. When I was very young, I wrote plays which my friends and I performed in my garage. As I got older, I wrote family histories and personal histories. When I was a young mother, I tried my hand at writing a book. Since then, I have written several books, none of which have sold even though I tried to sell a couple of them.

I wrote a book called The Mole Connection in the 70's. It was so exciting to express myself in a different way than ever before. It was about a young boy who lived in an orphanage. He desperately wanted to find out about his heritage. It had a strong ring of family history, my main love, but a little mystery too. I wrote it for my children. They hated reading so I tried to make it funny, emotional, exciting, all of those things to entice my kids to read. Unfortunately, it didn't inspire them any more than any other book.

I took the book out last year and read over it. WOW, what a mess. What I mean is, the writing needed so much editing. I was kind of embarrassed to read it. It's a good story though. I'm not sure kids of today would think so as it doesn't have any sci-fi weird things to it, but it does have a decent family feeling.

I wrote another book after The Mole Connection called Unspoken Secrets. That was another genealogy based book. It was about an older girl whose parents had passed away. She was cleaning out their house when she came upon some interesting information about her parents just after WWII. She followed the clues to find out more about her heritage. It took her to Japan along a twisty turn of events until she discovered the special secret that had been kept from her all of her life.

That book was much better written. I was happy with it but it still needs some editing and refining. I didn't write that for my family, instead, I wrote it for myself. I have this burning need inside of me to express myself and I do it much better in words than in conversation.

Last year I wrote another book. It is called The Best Summer Ever. I'm a grandma now. We live in a beautiful valley in North Idaho. I have started several books about this place. We own 80 acres along a beautiful river. Every summer some of my grandkids come to visit. Many of our grandkids live around us. This book is inspired by my five young granddaughters. The book is centered around the one that comes to visit. The book is fictional but based on family experiences. I have tried several times to get this book in print.

I have taken many online classes in writing and watched who knows how many u-tube videos on writing. My daughter-in-law writes and publishes a homeschool curriculum and has helped me to develop my understanding of writing and editing. She edited my final copy of the book. I then sent out queries to several agents to see if they would take me on as a client. To this date, none have agreed. I'm still waiting to hear from several.

I have investigated publishing it myself. I actually hired a couple of different people to make a cover picture for my book but neither one could fulfill my expectations. I have looked and studied the process of publishing through Amazon and will go that way if no one accepts me as a client. I know my daughter-in-law will help me but I am really trying to do this myself.

I am getting up there in years so it seems to be more difficult for me to learn these new programs. I also realize that most kids today want books about fantasy or love and adventure. My books are more family related. Good wholesome stories. I may never get published or kids may not like my style of story but I have fulfilled a love inside of me. My kids and grandkids will have a little something of me that I hope will give them a better insight as to who I am.

I'm not sure if anyone will read this but I do want to tell you a little about why I wrote my first book. I was very depressed. I was a young mother with several babies and very little money. I felt that there was nothing but work in my life. I'd lost the joy of living. I prayed and prayed for help. My help came in a very strange way. A lady at my church was teaching a class in oil painting and everyone was invited - no charge. I saw talented people all around me and was sure that I could not paint but I took the class anyway. What it did was open me up to new ideas. I loved painting and painted many pictures (none of which are that great). It gave me a feeling of confidence.

One night, about one in the morning, I woke with a thought of a book. My babies were sleeping so I went to my typewriter, we didn't own a computer in those days, and typed away. My excitement could not be curtailed. As soon as I got the kids down at night, I typed until midnight every night. We went camping and I took my portable typewriter with me and typed the entire time.

I was so proud when I finished that book. The Mole Connection was done! I had my mom read it and then my husband. When my husband read it, he had some critical remarks to say and it destroyed me. I was not prepared for negative thoughts. Now, I look back and understand why he said what he did but at the time, this was my masterpiece and he crushed it.

I put the book away and forgot about writing for many years. When I wrote my second book, I refused to let him or anyone else read it. Then I wrote this last book. I was so excited about it and let my mom and my husband read it. They were both so excited about it. I decided to let my daughter-in-law read it. I knew she would be honest and I felt ready this time to hear the criticism. Well, she read it to my son and grandkids in the car while they were on their way to visit us. My son had lots to say, none of it good. I talked to my daughter-in-law and got some great instruction on how to correct my problems. I re-wrote the book and submitted it to her again. It came back filled with red marks and tons of ways to improve my writing.

It was then that I decided to start studying writing. I read and watched everything I could about writing. How to have a clear voice, keep one point of view, be careful how many characters are introduced, the many pitfalls of new writers, etc. I spent several months studying. I then purchased a couple of editing programs. I re-wrote my book page by page using all of the techniques I had learned as well as refined everything with the editing programs. I read and reread my book. I put it aside for a few months and then reread and re-edited it again. I finally was ready for my daughter-in-law to do a final editing. This time, very few corrections were needed.

I know there is still so much to learn. I am starting on another book. I am going to re-write and edit my two earlier books. I don't know if anything I write will ever be sold but I love to write and will continue doing this for myself. I have never really dreamed of being an author. I just love to write. Yes, it would be awesome to see my word in print. It would give me that final feeling of success but I don't need it. I don't know how to say this where others would understand but my success is that I did this! I wrote several books! I learned and I grew. I learned to improve myself. I learned to accept criticism as it was the only way I could improve my writing skills. I learned to share my deepest feelings with others and know that I can withstand their thoughts about what I have done. I hope my story will inspire someone. I'm in my 70's and age is never a factor when it comes to improving ourselves.