The beginning
My name is Lee deLacy and I am a 66 year old retired physician from New Jersey who wanted to write a book. I've been a science fiction fan my whole life. I first started with Edgar Rice Burroughs who is an older writer but is famous for his Tarzan series of books. Another famous series of his takes place on Mars with the first book being called A Princess of Mars. Unfortunately, Disney made a movie about this which ruined the experience for me. My Scifi journey continued with the Dune series of books. Fantasy in the form of Lord of the Rings, the Wheel of Time, and The Sword of Truth series also has been a staple.
Over my forty year career taking care of my patients was very fulfilling, but I always yearned to do something creative. My childhood dream was to be a singer in a rock 'n' roll band, but two things stood in my way. The first was I can’t sing, and the second was not playing an instrument. Having mild dyslexia makes playing instruments more challenging. Reality in the form of medicine always came first. During the last several years of my medical career, I worked part time due to complications and issues related to the previous cancer surgeries. I beat the cancer and am very thankful for that, but those cures came with the cost. When I reduced my work schedule, I used my extra time to try something new. I came up with a concept for a book. Yet, I had never written any short stories, let alone books, up to this point in my life.
That began my two-year journey of learning how to write and thinking about the story. I also needed a tool to organize my ideas and help with creating the novel, and that was when I discovered Scrivener. Scrivener is a fantastic piece of writing software that is fantastic. While it can be used on a basic level, there are many layers of additional tools that can assist you. The long learning curve can be daunting. However, once you have learned how to use the software, it has amazing abilities. So when I retired, I was ready to write my book. I had my ideas lined up, my characters in place, and of course plot twists. I read over 15 books on how to write, create characters, craft vivid scenes, and dictate a book. I was ready to write.
But my body had other ideas. I passed out at home from blood clots in my lungs dropping my blood pressure and causing shortness of breath. These were related to my previous surgery for cancer. I ended up in the hospital for six days. After fully recovering, I will take blood thinning medicine for the rest of my life. After that setback, I thought I was ready to write, but I had one more hurdle to overcome.
My fear of failure. I was hesitant to start because I wasn't sure that I could actually do the writing. Would the ideas flow when I started? Would I be able to concoct a story that would be both entertaining and interesting? Could I sustain my enthusiasm thru the initial writing? All the books on writing cautioned that your first draft would be horrible and not to be discouraged by the putrid mess you spewed on the paper. And on that upbeat note, I started.
It is very similar to the experience I had when I went skydiving with my daughter. I promised her I would go skydiving when she was 18. So my son, daughter and myself boarded a plane and climbed to 13,000 feet and did a tandem jump with experienced guides. That moment before leaping was terrifying and similar to my feelings on the day I started writing. Surprisingly, I produced a novel of over 130,000 words. That was step one.
13,000 feet later, we are safe back on the ground.
The second phase was rewriting to ensure that I had a consistent point of view, tense, and story details. When you are world building and creating something, you need consistency in the beginning and end of the book. I discovered how to do that using both Scrivener and a mind mapping software called Scapple. In Scapple, I created cards for characters and locations adding the details that I referred to repeatedly to make sure my story stayed consistent. These cards grew as my mind created new details and nuances as I wrote the story.
For the first draft, I was able to complete it using Dragon dictation over 60 straight days. I would average dictating approximately 2000 words daily. As a horrible typist, without dictation I do not think I could have completed the process. After a month long break with a fresh perspective, I dove back into my book. With a fresh eye, I began correcting tense and story details and sharpening the focus.
So after working hard for several months I had a novel. It has released to several beta readers and adjusted with their feedback. Then the realization hit me that the hard work has only just begun.
Unfortunately, the novel you just completed and poured your heart into could drown in the ocean of books produced every year. The hard work is coming up with a plan to make your book stand out and to gain traction in the world of social media. To discover the ways to make people aware of your book and yourself. So I not only have to learn how to write a book at age 66, but now I have to navigate the world of social media in a way that is engaging to younger people. A journey thru the world of marketing, marketing ads, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, websites, and editors.
While doing this, I hope to attract interest from a publishing house about my book or my face the daunting task of going thru the world of self-publishing. This can seem overwhelming, and I certainly have felt that. These blogs will follow my journey thru this maze and show you things I have discovered.
Ultimately, over time, we will find out whether I get published and whether anyone actually wants to read it. I hope my journey will entertain you and perhaps we can learn something together thru the process. I will post blogs describing my journey, my fears, and my discoveries.