How I Got into Writing

I always had a propensity for storytelling.

I realize looking back, I always had a propensity for storytelling. I enjoyed the attention it brought to me, but most importantly I enjoyed observing others rivetted in something I had created.

​In college, I was not a gifted student. In fact, I hated school. I took a liking to creative writing classes and found another medium to tell my stories, filmmaking. I realized that was another beast entirely. There was so much more than capturing your story on film. The lighting played a roll, camera angles spoke volumes, and symbolism could move an audience without them even knowing it. I was fixated in all the nuances that could play a role in storytelling.

​I had my fun with it. I even had a modicum of success, with my first short film, The Leopard Frog, airing on the USA Network. It played on Calliope, a Saturday morning children’s program in 1991. It was an expensive endeavor at that time and unfortunately, I did not have the luxury to continue. I still wanted to tell stories, however.

​I thought long and hard about a new medium, one that does not drain my bank account. Well, writing turns out to be free. The only problem was, my audience was not getting my stories. My short stories usually attracted a little attention in my creative writing classes. The attention I enjoyed, but for those in my class thinking they wrote like JD Salinger, it wasn’t well received.

​I finally sat down intending to write a novel. It came with a beginning and an end and some crazy antics in between. I was not surprised that I finished the story. I was surprised that I actually enjoyed the novel and that it was not just a bunch of short stories all loosely tied together.

​I went the route of finding a publisher, or an agent, either would move things forward for me. I found the publishing world to be a cold mistress. Rejection after rejection found my mailbox. Yes, this was before email, just before.

​The most memorable rejection note I received was handwritten from a publisher in the UK. He said I was quite off the point. I still have that note and it will always be with me. I took a little too much pride in that response. Not feeling great about the possibility of being published, I took to the best possible mode for escaping disappointment, I began a second novel.

​I loosely based this tale, Sour Apples, off of a short story from my college days, but it was also written as a prequel to my first novel. I thought this story was more on point, and possibly a better mainstream story. Well, I began the query process for finding a publisher. I got a bite after working with an editor to polish my story. 

​Would I still be a writer if I had not found a publisher when I did? Well, thankfully I do not need to answer that question. What I can say is that I set out to write so I could tell stories, the stories that sit in my head. It makes it easier and more rewarding knowing I will have an audience greater than one to enjoy those stories.