Aged like a fine wine...

Like many of you out there, you might have been interested in writing early in life but just never had the time to commit or get started on that novel. Well my friends, wine isn't good until it's aged. Some of the best stories are the ones that have matured, and only time ages a things in the right direction. 

My writing career parallels this. I wrote my first novel when I was a teenager. I never did anything with that book, I just let it sit. Thank god! In retrospect, it was crap. The premise was great, the story was and still is original as far as I know, and the character development was also good. However, I didn't know how to write back then. I could loosely call it a "daytime television fan fiction" and that's giving the shite it's credit.  Any value was, to say the least, theoretical. It's still hiding in my desk in shame like a hunchback in the attic, hidden away, an abomination. I am so glad I made the decision to hold on to it. I think that kind of humiliation would have easily killed my momentum as a writer. 

Now that I am older I realize the wisdom in such a move. I also know that writing is a process that is largely derived from the experiences we have, back then I did not have much to go on. Now I have more. I will most likely have even more when I am fifty- etc. 

I published my first book around the age of thirty, I still love that book (Patchwork Indigo, if you were wondering- Shameless self promotion). Why? Because I sat on it till it was ready to hatch. Until I had a mountain of paper and notes to hew down to the size of a good book. Because I lovingly crafted and cared for it until that little shell broke and out came something alive, ready for the world. It's little beak poked me in the bum and I stood up knowing it was emerging and opening it's eyes for the first time. Not, in contrast, to a premature, runny mass of cells crying to be put out of it's misery- that first novel I wrote back when I was a teenager. 

Some people are born ready and can capture their novels at an early age. That wasn't me. I had to, and still have to, take my time. And although currently work has been slow as I am building a house and getting 10 acres of land ready for winter, I do have some eggs in the incubator. 

When there is so much else to do, it's hard to remember that it doesn't matter when you are ready, as long as you commit when the moment comes.  

To follow this up, I found this little video from the author of the "Jack Reacher" series by Lee Child. It was a great reminder, I hope you all get something out of it like I did. 

Cheers!