Okay. What's next?What do you do when your hopes for a writing career have been seriously rocked by unwanted news? Tons of effort, hours of work, thousands of words written to make a dream come true. And then Whammo!!
The bottom drops out and you find yourself in kind of literary free-falling vertigo.
Eh, what the hell.
It's not like I haven't been in this position before. Forty plus years of writing and hoping, submitting and rejecting . . . and then writing and hoping, and submitting and rejecting . . . well, you get the picture. Forty plus years of that and this situation becomes all too familiar to you.
Since, obviously, I'm not a 'Sensational New Writing Talent Freshly Discovered!' I guess I'll just pick myself up, dust off the dirt on my jeans and shirt, slap my dentures back in in the appropriate positions . . . .and write something!
Like I said; What the Hell!? I'm a writer. What the hell else am I supposed to do? I got a day-job (as menial as it is). I got a roof over my head. I got a wife, kids, and grand-kids who love me . . . . and put up with me and my dreams of being a successful in this gig. I got some friends out there in the writing world I can actually call genuine 'friends.' What else is needed to keep on dreaming and pushing and hoping and writing?
The imagination is still there. The urge to write is still there. And god knows all the characters I've created are still in my head screaming to get out. So . . . what the hell?
Take for example the thought that hit me in the midst of this last brouhaha. Why not, in a way, kinda 're-invent' a character of mine who seems to have developed a small (and I laugh at this . . . 'small' doesn't BEGIN to describe those who like this character ) fan base and rewrite the story that started the Smitty series?
The Smitty series started with a story about how an average Joe suddenly becomes a cold blooded killer. A professional hit-man who, strangely enough, still maintained a sense of justice in his cold heart. The original story was called 'Call Me Smitty.' But then this odd little 'crunch' explodes in my head (no, I didn't have a stroke, dammit!) Why not re-tool 'Call Me Smitty.' Title it, 'There is No Johnny--Just Call Me Smitty.'
Why not revamp the particulars which caused Johnny to turn into Smitty. Describe in detail a little more about the two people he loved the most turned on him. Keep some of the details and settings of the first story in place---but at the same time, change them enough to paint a more dramatic, darker . . . and definitely meaner . . . Smitty.
So okay. I'm writing that story as we speak . But Lo and Behold . . . !
Out of the blue skies come two unexpected queries. A writer friend of mine wants me to meet with his literary agent. Another writer-friend of mine (maybe one of the two Smitty fans) wants me to bundle some Smitty stories up and send'em to him . . . . and don't ask any questions just yet!
Hmmm . . . .
Is my luck changing? Is it going from, "You gotta be kidding me!!" to "Well, I'll be damn . . . !" Huh, you got me, brother. I'm just standing here scratching my very flat head and wondering the same thing.
But one thing seems obviously clear irregardless as to what ultimately comes down the pike. Networking with others of you ilk works. People who know people in your craft have a tendency to help you out. Not everyone, but a few; and no promises, mind you. But for every one door of opportunity that closes . . . its crystal clear other doors open. If you keep can recognize it when they come.
I gotta say, that's kinda nice. Friends helping friends. 'Hope someday that opportunity to help someone else is given to me. I owe a debt; I intend to repay.
Good writing alwaysfinds a home. I was thinking maybe I should launch Mystery Dawg Press
ReplyDeleteVery well said and eloquently put.
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone in the picking up and dusting down process. What does not kill us makes us stronger.
Thanks, my friends (MysDawg and Graham).
ReplyDeleteAnd MysDawg, if you do start up an imprint . . . allow me to be one of the first to offer something to you!
Looks like there's something on the horizon for you B.R. which is music to my ears. Smitty deserves a bigger audience. Got my fingers crossed for you sir.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Luca. Your kindness and support is appreciated. And I hope your efforts are soon to see fulfillment.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me very happy. You've paid your dues, B.R., and deserve nothing but success from now on.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Heath. But the reality is you're ALWAYS paying your dues in this racket. It's just nice to know you have some people at your back pushing you on.
ReplyDeleteKeep the dream alive!
ReplyDeleteOh, I plan to, Sharonlee. After all these years? I'm not about to hang up the keys now!
ReplyDeleteYou have my support and friendship, B.R.
ReplyDeleteAnd I hope we both always will share our friendship, Ben!
ReplyDeleteWell said. Great piece here. "`Tis not too late to seek a newer world" - and so on we go with the adventure.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joshua. As they say in the radio business. . . "Stay tuned!"
ReplyDeleteB.R., your situation and response to it reminds me of something that happened to my friend Bret Lott years ago. Bret was expecting his next novel to come out from his New York publisher and his regular editor was on vacation and the new one went down to accounting and found his previosu novel hadn't sold that well. So, he cancelled Bret's contract. Well, when you're a serious writer and lose your NY publisher, the end is here. Bret was extremely despondent, but he kept thinking about it, and finally came to the place where he remembered why he had started writing in the first place--his love of writing and literature--and picked himself up off the floor and wrote an essay about his travail and his conclusion--that he was going back to writing with his initial mindset--for a love of writing. It was published in Poets&Writers, and literally, days after it came out, Oprah Winfrey picked up his book JEWELL and named it her pick and all of a sudden he was back on top. That's the equivalent of lighting hitting, but even if it hadn't happened, he would have been all right. He'd rediscovered why he wrote and he's never lost sight of that again. Looks to me as if you've done the same. Your writing is excellent--you'll be back on top and sooner than you think. I'm proud to be your friend and to know you as a writer.
ReplyDeleteLes, thank you for that story. And the kind words of friendship--reciprocated, by the way. Now . . . if I could only get Oprah Winfreh to read a Smitty story or two, eh (laughing hilariously)
ReplyDeleteHi B.R. poped in from friends on RAA to see what you had to say and I like, I hope this will help others keep going. Linda
ReplyDelete