IWSG: You Always Remember Your First
I’m thrilled to be co-hosting this April’s Insecure Writers Support Group alongside Natalie Aguirre and Jemima Pett, especially because of the question:
Do you remember writing your first book? What were your thoughts about a career path on writing? Where are you now and how is it working out for you? If you're at the start of the journey, what are your goals?
The only thing I ever wanted to be “when I grew up” was a published author. By high school, I was sharing stories with a few friends who always wanted the HEA – but I was more interested in the action/adventure than I was H/H relationship. There was NO romance fiction genre (or ANY genre fiction back then), no mass market shelves for books, just the beginnings of the Big Five and their biggest sellers. And I knew I wanted to be one of them.
We’re talking before the Internet, before writers’ organizations, before genre agents. There were just big books and big dreams. So I took the bus to the library and toted home all the big heavy books I could carry on the topic I was sure would be my breakout novel – a 600+ hand-typed page novel (on a manual typewriter before White-Out or even correction tape!) set against the China sea trade with about 40 characters and subplots. The only reference I had for guidance was an out-of-date WRITERS’ MARKET that only dealt with serious fiction. Obviously, most of the six nicely boxed sets of my novel disappeared. I did get a couple of nicely copied generic, “Does not meet our current needs” letters . . . and I got a request, not for the book I wrote, but for anything else I might have. They loved my style of writing but couldn’t “sell” my setting/time frame.
Back to the typewriter to finish the ever popular (newly popular then!) pirate book, and it SOLD—along with a contract for three more romances. That was 70+ books ago. The rest of it, as they say, was history (and romance and suspense). Now, back to the RS I’m polishing . . . and to the stack of books I’m reissuing.
AND to find out more about YOUR journey!
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time. The awesome co-hosts for the April 5th posting of the IWSG will be Jemima Pett, Nancy Gideon, and Natalie Aguirre!
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Twitter hashtag is #IWSG
No google account - live in no signal dead zone, couldn't pick up their security texts. 70+ books . Incredible - beyond congratulations. So far, my writing career hasn't been like that.. So far, that is . Anonymously yours, Esther O'Neill
ReplyDeleteSo far . . . That's what I used to say to myself.
DeleteI enjoyed learning about your first writing attempts. I used to type on a typewriter, but we at least had white out by then. Thanks for co-hosting with me.
ReplyDeleteTaking a break from bailing out our standing water family room to do my due diligence as co-chair today. Sorry to leave you guys hanging . . .
DeleteNo White-Out. That would be a nightmare because I would make a mistake in the last line of each page every time!
ReplyDeleteThanks for co-hosting today!
Fill in forms were the absolute WORST!
DeleteWow. What a great story. "We can't publish this but love your style. What else have you got?" That's a writer's dream! Well done to you! I am such a (fast but) poor typist/speller/proofreader. Once in the dark ages, I tried to type up a story on a typewriter and gave up because there was more whiteout than type. I got a very snarky comment once from a college professor about my poor typing skills. The comment began with "What is your problem?" Never forgot that one. Thank goodness for computers or I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be writing!
ReplyDeleteTook typing classe but never got to the point where I could do it without looking at th keys (well, I'm kinda doing it now . . .)
DeleteI've always enjoyed reading how your career began. Very inspiring. It's sure paid off with 70+ published stories. Good luck on polishing that RS and getting those reissues out.
ReplyDeleteThanks for cohosting this month.
Hey, YOU were one of those who gave me to big push!!
DeleteSo interesting, Nancy. And 70+ books is something to be quite proud of!
ReplyDeleteWe just had our basement flood - it's not fun to move boxes of them!!
DeleteFascinating story, Nancy. I'd love to hear more. Thanks for co-hosting. Good luck with all your future dreams.
ReplyDeleteOh, if I only had enough hours in the day to write them all down . . .
DeleteThat's such a fun story. 70+ books is a huge accomplishment! I've been writing for as long as I can remember. I'm still on that book publishing journey! Persistence pays off. Thanks for hosting the bloghop this month!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Jen! I'm still on that writer's journey, too. It never ends (and you never want it to!).
DeleteYes, Nancy, I wrote my first stories on a typewriter, too. Except they were short stories.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for co-hosting this month's IWSG question. Good luck with the water in your family room. Nuts! Have a great day!
Oh, my aching back! Have pros coming to deal with the rest of it tomorrow!
DeleteI recall typewriters and special thin typing paper that one could erase mistakes with an eraser, which is also part of the antiquated arsenal of writing... Thanks for sharing your story, one of the best I've heard!
ReplyDeleteYep! Been there!
DeleteI recall typewriters and their companion: special erasable paper, on which could use an actual eraser to rid your college paper (ten pages, double-spaced) of errors!
ReplyDeleteOh, yes! And memory typewriters! Those were the best.
DeleteGreat title for today's post ;-) I enjoyed reading how it all began for you. You knew what star you wanted to swing on and grabbed it - impressive! You are an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteThanks for co-hosting this month.
Thanks, Diedre! Knowing and grabbing are two very different things. It took a good shove for me to reach that star!
DeleteOur journeys were so similar with the learning and doing. Only difference is that you knew you wanted to be a writer early, while in school. I didn't know until I was out of school, plus it took me a lot longer to publish my first book. You were a great role model in getting books published. Still are! Loved your story.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Di! We all develop at different paces but don't you enjoy sharing the same spaces now!!
DeleteI started writing stories on my mom's typewriter. The backspace tape was used in emergencies only ha! I knew I wanted to be a writer really early on but didn't know how. I wish I'd known more earlier, but here I am releasing my first book to the world this year!
ReplyDeleteFrom handwritten notebook to typewriter . . . remember the process well! FIRST BOOK! Yahoo!
DeleteThanks for co-hosting today, Nancy! I enjoyed reading about your writing journey. 70+ books is a wonderful accomplishment!
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's been a looooong road!
DeleteSounds like you knew where you were going and how to go about it. Woot that it worked out so well for you! Thanks for co-hosting.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it was the blind leading the blind but I don't regret any of the journey!
DeleteI couldn't help but wonder how you made six copies? You certainly have the necessary drive if you typed 600 pages plus the copies? Your desire to write has served you well; proved by the 70+ books you've written since.
ReplyDeleteIn an earlier comment you mention "...bailing out our standing water family room.." Wow, that sounds like the bases for a story as well as a physical challenge. Hope there wasn't too much damage.
Thanks for finding the time to co-host this month.
Lynn La Vita
So far we've managed to get on top of the water. We've got carpet and building folk coming tomorrow. Hope we're still standing after another night of storms!!
DeleteSometimes, I can't believe there was a time before the internet, but I lived through it for the first half of my life. Seems surreal, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteRemember writing letters? And making phone calls? Me, neither.
DeleteMy very first forays into writing a book were on a computer, but I remember having to trade out the software and disk I was saving it on back and forth all the time. I was co-writing a tennis romance with my best friend in middle or maybe high school. @samanthabwriter from
ReplyDeleteBalancing Act
Oh that sounds - awkward.
DeleteI remember lugging that big, heavy Writer's Market of the current year around the library. And then rejections because whoever had the position at time of print had since left and the new person hated that everyone in the world didn't know. (The Internet wasn't really a "thing" back then.) Congratulations on busting out into print during those times.
ReplyDeleteHappy IWSG day! Here's a giveaway- rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4fa90ac761
It's April, so I'm focused on the #AtoZChallenge.
Proof of Existence, book two in my dark urban fantasy series, is out this month.
I'm running another giveaway on my blog.
J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Reference& Speculative Fiction Author, OperationAwesome6 Debut Author Interviewer, and Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge
Looking back, you wonder how we ever got anywhere!
DeleteWow, 70+ books is quite the accomplishment! In some ways, I miss writing on a typewriter. But I wouldn't be able to deal with it now.
ReplyDeleteOnce I got over my terror of using something NEW I'd never go back to old tech (unless forced to do so!)
DeleteTypewriters with sticky keys and fading ribbons - what a blessing when the great p.c. revolution came along. I can write rubbish much faster now!
ReplyDeleteLOL! Well there's THAT upside!
DeleteThanks for co-hosting this month. Wow, no correction tape, that's "ganster"- which is a compliment to your fortitude. Glad you hear you were able to make your dream come true.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't feel that way then when I was spending more time trying to make a clean copy than I did writing some of the chapters!! LOL! But it was a dream that wouldn't let go.
Delete70+ books, wow. I feel a bit giddy thinking about such a number. You were dedicated right from the beginning. Good for you.
ReplyDeleteI knew before I was old enough to put pencil to paper that I wanted to tell stories-to write books but it wasn't until a college prof asked some time later what I was doing with my college education that I really knuckled down to put endless pages and chapters together into a readable book.
DeleteI have an Olivetti Lettera 32. I'm more careful with my words when I type. Trying to fully conceptualize 70 plus manuscripts. Wow! Thank you for sharing your story, and thank you for co-hosting!
ReplyDeleteI remember typewriters... ugh. I never wrote fiction back then but typed a lot of school term papers.
ReplyDelete70 books is amazing! Well done, you!