I have a special guest today! Boomer babe Grace Reddick, author of the delightful children’s book, ASHLEY’S UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER, joins us at Boomer Chick in her final days of her virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion! I asked Grace to stop by and tell my fellow boomers what it was like being an author from a boomer’s standpoint. If you’d like to find out more about this talented author, visit her website at www.grace4books.com. Enjoy and take it away, Grace!It was during my early married years that I began to journal. I had a strong desire as well as a need to release the emotions that were bottled up inside me, waiting to be set free. If you could step inside my heart, you would feel the emotional roller coaster ride that thrust me forward making me the person that I have become.
Every story is unique, but what makes mine so different is that it was happening to me.
My journaling, my lifeline, was all I had to keep me in touch with reality.
Journaling was also most gratifying. I soon realized that the more I wrote, the more I desired to write.
The words seemed to flow from my heart and leap onto the paper before me. What an awesome experience this turned out to be. I began to write poetry, and here again, this was another expression from my heart. My poetry was published in the weekly local paper. Soon people began asking me to write special things for them. This was truly an honor.
As I began to write in my journal each day, I found it to be increasingly intriguing. I believe, looking back on it now, that this was the beginning of my desire to write beyond myself.
A story began to buzz around in my head as I pondered the thought of writing a novel. I was a stay at home mom, so I had plenty of time to write. I wrote fifteen chapters and put it aside, never to be picked up again.
I submitted an essay for children once, just for the fun of it. However, after recieving great reviews, I decided I could write a complete story for children. And I did just that, then I wrote another.
I did not have any experience in writing, no training, no direction and had no clue what I was doing.
I did go to the library and look up publishers, and began sending one of my stories out, just as it was.
Oh my goodness, if you could only see how terrible it was, I'm sure that you would die laughing.
I was so naive. I pressed forward on my excitement. And yes, as you might know, I did receive many rejections, although I couldn't understand why. I did not have an editor, who needs them, did not have an agent, what was that? I had a good story, wasn't that good enough?
Unfortunately for the writing world, I put all of my writing aside. I honestly don't know why. I do know that timing is very important in your life, and perhaps this was not my time.
After completing the children's book that I am currently rewriting, I will be writing on personal experiences. But I will always write children's books. I have a lot to say, and no, I do not think that my time is running out. I'm just getting started.
I resumed my writing about two years ago. Boy did I have a lot to learn. Here I am, a grandmother, a young one I might add. Venturing out to achieve fame and fortune, I began to rewrite one of my original stories. Much to my surprise, I did not know anything about the writing industry. I searched online for anything or anyone that could offer any suggestions. I continued to write while doing this, and needless to say, I had to once again, rewrite. I did this a lot because I had to learn as I went along. I found all of this to be very frustrating. It seemed that I needed people, like an editor, and an illustrator.
I joined writing groups to get info, went to several authors websites. I found out they put lots of good information there.
Finally, I was ready to publish. I chose a paid vanity publisher because I wanted desperately to get my book out there. After all, I have another one on the way. Xlibris was my choice, and yes it was expensive. In my opinion, too expensive. Each additional thing I felt I needed, just seemingly decreased my wallet. Golly, is this what publishing is all about? I should have compared publishers and possibly taken a few different steps toward stardom. But hey, I'll get there non the less.
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