Writing Highs and Woes

What does a writer do? They write. But as I get to know more and more professional authors - i.e., those who publish - often - and actually get paychecks from the action of publishing their work - I find that they also have problems motivating and writing what they really want to write. Current authors whose blogs I follow have difficulty with deadlines, publishers, publicity and sometimes just getting the words out of their heads and onto the paper/screen. They fight the same demons of uncertainty, plot twists, and uncooperative characters that we all battle with, and they have real lives that get in their way just like the rest of us. In fact, they could be any of us who enjoy writing with one difference - the books that they write are publishes and sell. If they can do it, so can you or so can I. It's a dream, but it's a dream with possibilities.

Fighting Demons by Jarrod

Today is the birthdate of three authors whose books I first read when I was quite young and still love to this day. Their books have sold millions of copies and they have served as inspiration as authors or through their stories for generations of children. The first of these is Louisa May Alcott, the author of the well known "Little Women". The fact that she wrote romance novels, more commonly referred to as 'bodice ripper' novels for years before writing a 'girl's story' requested by her publisher is very conveniently swept underneath the rug. "Little Women", the one book she never wanted to write, ended up as her legacy, her nameplate book.

The second author was born in 1898 in Belfast and became a student, later a teacher at Oxford - C.S. Lewis. Raised as an atheist, he was converted to Christianity by his good friend, J>R>R> Tolkien, and is now well known for his Christian apologetic works as well as his Narnia series which starts out with "The Witch, The Lion and the Wardrobe". I have to say that I loved the Narnia books when I first read them, although I am a bit less fond of them now. But they are enjoyable - a good afternoon's read.

Was Aslan a poorly disguised Christ figure?  He was a great lion at any rate.

The third author who was born on this date is Madeleine L'Engle whose classic, dark, science-fiction based children's books have tantalized the minds of youth since the late 1960's. She wrote book after book, then finally wrote "A Wrinkle in Time". This book, rejected by 26 publishers on many different grounds including the fact that it had a female main character and a story including danger and darkness, went on to finally get published by a publishing firm that didn't publish books of that genre in 1963 and went on to win the Newberry Medal. She was 45 years old before finally seeing her book in print.

So what is the point of all of these words to you today? Only the basic point of not giving up. If you have a story to tell, tell it. If you have a character beating at you to let it out, do it. You may or may not become a world-renowned author through the act of writing, but you never know...you truly never know. And you can't publish a book without going through the activity of actually writing it. Hmmm....what a concept!