I meet a lot of writers in my writerly life. I also meet a lot of people who dismiss writing as no more than a hobby and even suggest they have a book they might write one day… when they retire and give up their real job. It might be said in all innocence, but it often dismisses the ‘real’ writer as if we have nothing else better to do, and like, really how hard can it be to write a book?
How wrong they are. I smile sweetly and say nothing.
The people I genuinely admire are those who do it. They don’t just say they are going to do it, they do it. And there are indeed a lot of writers out there, you might not even know are writing. Whether you have big dreams of making it a career like I did, or you want it to be no more than a hobby, it doesn’t matter. I always imagine most people want the former, but then I do have a skewed bias in who I meet as I edit for a lot of writers. These are people with dreams of success and that is why they come to someone like me. But that is not always the case. Some people just have a story inside them they want to get out. It might be the only one or it might be the beginning of something else.
I want to tell you about Steve. Quite by chance, a guy who is in some of my classes at the gym, asks me what I do and we get to talking about writing. Turns out he had been writing a World War II story and so we got chatting. In a conversation over many months, over a few cups of coffee after class, he asked my advice and then he hired me for a critique/ms appraisal. I actually did two rounds of edits, light edits. We had a couple of mentoring sessions after class in the gym coffee shop too and he decided he only wanted to get it published as a legacy. To give copies to family and friends. He did not want an ISBN, to sell it on Amazon or in shops. He didn’t want to sell it at all! So we looked into book printers and he found one. We talked about the cover and what he wanted. He had a great service from the company and imagine my delight when he walked into the gym and presented me with this!
It’s a real reason to celebrate. Self-publishing for personal use or published by a big press: the dream is whatever you want it to be and I am so pleased for Steve he got to see his dream realised! I encourage him to donate a copy to the bookshelves at Waterside Leisure Centre where both my novel and short story collection reside and are always being borrowed and then returned. The Waterside small library!
I loved that I got to see this happen. That after a couple of years of working together on and off and lots of discussion, I get to hold his book in my hand. Steve is a shy man and would never brag about his achievements…. so I am!
Dream and make it happen, folks!
I know this is not readily available but it’s a great story that sees the impact the war had on both an English and a German family. It’s about life, people, what shapes our future and I hope the few people who do get to read it will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed working with him on it.
We all have a story to tell… well done to those who do it.