 |
| Completely unsolicited #BookSelfie |
* * *
I truly thought they were being dramatic, those writers
who complain about people who say, “You know what you should write...” or, “I
have this story idea...” I guess I was just jealous because it had never
happened to me.
“Oh, yeah, I think Oprah might actually put her sticker
on this one.”
I thought my sarcasm had been clear until he asked, “How
long have you been writing?”
“My whole life.”
And you know, usually that’s when someone will ask what I
write about, but not this guy: “I have a story. What do they call it when it’s
someone’s life story?”
“An autobiography.”
“No. Well, it’s like a biography, but more personal.” He
told me the title he’d chosen, and then hit me with this: “You could retire off
of this book deal.”
“I have all of the memories.” How it works. “I
just need someone to put them together for me. I can start feeding them to you,
and you can type them up.”
“Well, that’s not really--”
“Seriously, you could retire off of this book deal.” How
I work. “We can split the royalties.”
As he related a memory from his truly tragic childhood to
me, I wondered how to politely tell him that I don’t want to write his book.
I thought about telling him that I didn’t have time.
After all, I’m editing my second book, A Year with the Baptists, writing
the first draft of my third book, Rachael’s Unfolding, and plotting an
unnamed fantasy series. And it’s not like when I’m done with all of that I’ll
be at a loss for ideas.
I thought about telling him that the market is saturated,
to say nothing at all about the memoir genre. Telling stories is not enough;
you have to be able to get people to listen. In order to get people to listen
to you, you have to be listening to them.
I thought about telling him that I get paid ahead of time
for any freelance work I do, in case, you know, the co-writer can’t hack it. I
think anyone whose opinion is that a writing career just happens won’t
hack it, and would therefore be a poor investment of my time, energy, and
significant talent.
I also thought about telling him that maybe I didn’t want
to retire off of his book deal; I want to retire off my own.
Even though the encounter was every bit as frustrating as
my writing friends had led me to believe, I was inspired to continue tapping
out my own lowly story ideas, building relationships with people, and otherwise
investing my time in worthwhile pursuits.
* * *
 |
| Lydia Thomas...just goofing around! |
* * *
Thus the Humor & Inspiration posts begin! Many wonderful writers have influenced me since I started my journey as a writer/wannabe author. Now it's time to shine the light on those who shared, uplifted, and mentored me along the way.
If you'd like to take advantage of the Power of the Share, leave me a comment below. I'd love to have more participants!
* * *
Follow the Humor & Inspiration Features:
How awkward...but nice job on the tactful response! I love reading and now have The Field on my Amazon wish list.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Lydia is such a cute lady...The Field is on my TBR list on the kindle. By the way, you're up next, sweetie!
DeleteThis is so funny! I had something like that - a 'friend' who had a great idea for a book that she wanted us to 'co-write'. After I'd turned her illiterate notes into a publishable book, and completely rewritten her unfeasible story arc, she presented it to a literary agent as her own work. Was that ever a learning process!
ReplyDeleteThank you again, Lydia, for your kind and thoughtful reviews of my books, too xx And I am just going to look at The Field :)
I'd be about ready to say, "Good luck writing the sequel, sucker!" I can't imagine the young Terry who took on that gig in the first place. Live and learn, right? BTW it's been fun to pull up Blogger and find all these messages from you, Terry! :)
Delete