TODAY I published my book THE MONORAILS of MARS the first JW sci-fi

by Terry 46 Replies latest jw friends

  • rip van winkle
    rip van winkle

    Terry, look forward to reading MoM!

  • Twitch
    Twitch

    Congrats, sir.

    A novel I'd definitely buy

  • Terry
    Terry

    I got a promotional blurb from Lulu.

    It says Thursday and Friday only you can use CODE: DOGDAYS14 for a 15% discount.

    Every little bit helps!

  • Terry
    Terry
  • Jeannette
    Jeannette

    Congratulations!

  • Terry
    Terry

    Thank you!

    I'm going to tell you a story.

    Around 1979 I was living in California.

    I was still technically a JW. But, I hadn't really been attending meetings since about 1976. For you young folks, that means a year

    AFTER we should all have been living in Paradise :)

    Anyway . . .

    I was in a little village called WESTWOOD VILLAGE close to the UCLA campus and not that far from Beverly Hills.

    I parked my car and walked around because I had nothing better to do. It was a Saturday and the weather was, of course, perfect.

    I stopped in front of a large bookstore window. In the window was a rather magnificent display featuring just one book title.

    There were stacks and stacks of books and a large photo of the author.

    The window presented CAPTAIN BLOOD by a rather good-looking author named Michael Bloodgett.

    What stopped me?

    It must have been how special it looked. This author and his book were being celebrated, singled-out for praise and lauded.

    As a JW--well, we didn't do that sort of thing. We were anonymous and lowly. But, here was this author . . . and he was being

    celebrated because he wrote this book, Captain Blood. Hmmmmm . . .

    I went inside. The bookstore was huge. There was a large banner with the name of the book and a sign with the author's name.

    He was having a special book signing!

    Large posters with the book cover were displayed prominently!

    The entire experience just struck me like a sword through the heart. I can't explain why--but, it resonated inside of me!

    Author, Michael Bloodgett

    Something inside of me was ringing like a large bell with a tone that went on . . . forever!

    The author was handsome (turns out he was a bit actor) and he was surrounded by admiring women who bought his book and they were

    waiting in line for him to personalize a signature!

    I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE IDE OF BEING AN AUTHOR at that moment.

    But--hey, I was to wait 33 years before I even wrote one book. It wasn't a glamorous book at all.

    Why am I telling you this?

    Because, I realized I was being wasted in my life. I was being overlooked. Whatever talent I might have was supposed to be

    ignored and buried because my cult religion was more important!

    I still think about that day in the bookstore--espcially today when I have published my own Captain Blood!

    My book, The MONORAILS OF MARS is intended to be just as outrageously entertaining as Michael Bloodgett's book . . . in its own way, of course :)

    I just wanted to share that silly moment in my life when I was 32 years old, by myself on the streets of Westwood, California dreaming of

    one day being an author who wrote a book people might find entertaining!

  • compound complex
    compound complex

    As one of our fellow posters has quoted several times, "It's never too late to be what you might have been."

    George Eliot

  • Terry
    Terry

    Coco--when I think of all the years I could have been writing (well, seriously writing) I wonder if I would have had the patience

    to do the re-write part? I mean, I got rid of about 25% of the finished manuscript. Those were my favorite parts--but, they

    did not move the story along--they just served my "artistic" side :)

    As I get older, at least I can try and give Isaac Asimov's record a run. Let's see, how many books did he write . . . ?

    Hmmmm . . . only 506!

    Heck, I better get busy!

  • compound complex
    compound complex

    Good, Terry!

    After all, we all do have the rest of our life.

    Yes, there is that which satisfies our artistic side, but that discrete portion that our agent says will prove marketable.

    The movie, Smart People, with Dennis Quaid, had the professor's/author's brilliant novel, You Can't Read, edited- and, consequently, dumbed-down to make it accessible to Average Joe Reader. Lawrence (Quaid) came to terms with the travesty, admitting ruefully that the proceeds would pay Daughter's tuition at Stanford.

    Go for it!

    CoCo

  • Terry
    Terry

    I started my new book yesterday afternoon.

    I'm enjoying it. I'm going to let loose and write the book as though it is only for ME.

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