Those of us that write probably all have one. That skeleton in the closet that should not be allowed out of the coffin.
Mine is not buried deep enough. I actually keep the darn thing above my computer on a shelf. Every once in a while, I even think about it. I can barely recall the plot, let alone the title, but I'll never forget the pain and joy of writing it. Tonight, curiosity could not be denied. I had to look. So - I pulled it down just so I could discover the title.
Designs of Fate.
Not a bad title, but clearly not a title for a historical western. I wrote it when I was twenty, thirty years ago, on an electric typewriter. Talk about an editing nightmare. Ack. I used a lot of correction tape. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I keep thinking I'll rewrite it just for the heck of it. Someday, but not anytime soon. While I don't remember the plot, I do remember thinking it was horrid. LOL. Lot's of backstory and telling and a plot that wasn't all that unique.
I actually submitted it to Avon and received my first rejection. Wow, what a surprise. A rejection? Not really knowing much about how the real world works, I took that rejection personally. Remember, I was only twenty. And I didn't write my next book until 2001, twenty three years later. I still enjoyed drafting first chapters and have a ton of them stored away, but just couldn't bring myself to write another full.
Until one of my friends discovered the numerous first chapters I'd begun and encouraged me to try again. The rest is history.
It might be interesting to discover how many "under the bed" books get rewritten and then published. Hmmmm. Curious minds want to know. LOL.
3 comments:
Ugh! Those under the bed books! I have one I wrote at age 21. It's a sci fi with a hero who is part man/part bat, and he dies at the end and the heroine commits suicide. I have no idea what I was thinking. Definitely didn't understand the whole happy ending concept back then...
Too funny Nancy but then when I was young, Batman was quite the hero. LOL
I don't have any finished "under the bed books" but I do have a lot of outlines and partials for YA novels that I started in my teens, but at this point in my life, I don't see pulling them out and writing them. They all sound naive and unprofessional to me now that I'm in my 30's. Maybe someday though, I'll get them out, polish the ideas a bit better and do something with them.
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