“A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.” - Samuel Johnson.
“To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.” - Allen Ginsberg.
This is where a writer begins. Setting off on an adventure in a world we create. First drafts are the
most fun and my favourite place to be. This was especially true with The Abandoned Theater.
You don’t think about where the book will end up or whether the writing is good. In all honestly, it
probably isn’t at this point. Definitely not in my first draft. But I love the journey, and I’m always
surprised at the twists and turns the characters take.
"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really
good." - William Faulkner.
Then you rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite again before releasing it slowly into safe spaces to be
read.
“You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first
delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You’ve been backstage. You’ve
seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat.” - Margaret Atwood.
Releasing the book to beta readers is exciting because at this stage you devour the feedback. As with most writers, I am my worst critic and look for any opportunity to improve.
“Writers are often the worst judges of what we have written.” - Stephen King.
And then we rewrite and rewrite and rewrite some more.
"Don't get discouraged because there's a lot of mechanical work to writing. There is, and you
can't get out of it. I rewrote the first part of A Farewell to Arms at least fifty times." - Ernest
Hemingway.
Finally, we step away from the fantasy worlds we’ve created, where I’m most comfortable and
trudge reluctantly into the technical world, attempting to summarize an entire book into one or
two pages. And worse, write the dreaded query letter. Then begins the roller-coaster of rejection
and hope.
“I wasn’t going to give up until every single publisher turned me down, but I often feared that
would happen.” - J. K. Rowling.
Months or maybe years later, a book contract! Time to celebrate. The book goes through
final edits, proof reading, cover reveal, and a release date is set. All very exciting.
But in my case, that’s when the tires screeched in my head. A loud voice rang out. Wait just a
minute! The Abandoned Theater will be public. People could read it. Panic struck and doubts
crashed in.
My book release confession, it’s terrifying. Unleashing your baby into the world is scary. Not
necessarily a fear of how it will be received, although that too is scary, but as though a piece of
you is being exposed.
“I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something, you can
be judged.” - Erica Jong.
Eventually, my thoughts returned to the beginning and how much fun it was to write. I imagined a reader trekking through the forest with Beth and her friends, on that same journey I took, and the joy returns.
“Focus more on your desire than on your doubt, and the dream will take care of itself.” - Mark
Twain.
In the end, I hope that a child, or someone magically young at heart, who reads The Abandoned
Theater enjoys the journey as much as I did.
Dana Robertson.
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