WHERE DID THE WEEK GO?

My goodness. In only twenty minutes it will be Saturday. Where did the time go? It seems like it was Monday a day or so ago. It's been one of those weeks when a lot was accomplished, and nothing was accomplished. One day fully wasted, trying to figure out what was going on with AOL, only to discover that once again they made a change without really letting subscribers know. Oh well, all's well that ends well, but they stole one of my days.

When I was writing the first draft of what was then "Dance Ballerina Dance," (now A DREAM LOST and THE DEVIL'S DUE) I didn't worry about the internet. It was around 1995, and e-mail was still something most people didn't have. The fax was the big thing. Right about that time, I was pulling together the pieces of a puzzle that would eventually become my first attempt at fiction.

I had the story of the kidnapped ballerina, I had some of what happened to her afterwards, but there were so many directions it could go. I just didn't know which fork in the road to follow. Finally I decided that I would use those first bits as the nucleus of the story. From there it could go anywhere my mind wanted it to, unlike writing magazine articles about specific things. I wouldn't have to adhere to the truth. I could create places, people, scenes, obstacles, triumphs and all of the other elements that make up a good fiction novel.

The problem was I'd never written fiction. I was an avid reader, but all of the nuances that I should have picked up from wonderful writers, skipped right past me. Oh, was I ever off base. First of all I thought it had to be big in order to sell it to an agent or publisher. How does 600 pages sound? Ridiculous for a first time fiction author--that's how it sounds to me now. But that was then. Use an outline, a time line, plotting sheets? Why? Just start to write. Let those creative juices flow.

Anyone reading this who is a seasoned writer, probably senses big problems on the horizon right about now. But did I know I was starting down a fourteen year road? You bet I didn't. "Probably knock it out in six months or so."--that's what I told myself, and told myself and told myself as months turned into years.

Over the next several posts, I'll talk about how Shawn (can't even remember the last name I gave her) became Jen Connor. And, how very much I learned from Jen.

That's it for tonight.

--Arliss Adams

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO "HANG IN THERE"?

Lots of determination and belief in yourself, that's what it takes.

I got to thinking about why and how I kept the faith that it was going to happen. Someday these books would be published. I think it was because I knew I had a good story to tell that would grab people's hearts, and I was determined to do what it took to get it published.

Part of what it took turned out to be really studying how to write fiction, for one thing.I attended many conferences and workshops, joined writer's organizations and absorbed information from everything I got my hands on. I kept an open mind. Critiques were not an attack on me or my writing. They were an effort to help me reach my goal, and if I wasn't ready to listen and evaluate the suggestions other writers were willing to give me, well, then I wasn't sincere about getting this published. And, let me tell you, I WAS SINCERE.

Sure, I'd put it down and pick it up again. Once I let it rest on a shelf for two years. But I always went back. And, each time I did, I brought something new to the manuscript, be it experience, technique or a great new scene I'd thought of.

Also, as I said, many of the characters in these two books are modeled on people I knew, or composites of people I knew and things that I really experienced myself. Thank goodness, not the awful stuff, but little memories, like picking all of the neighbor's flowers as a child so I could bring my mother a bouquet. I envisioning myself as a Nancy Drew, and along with four girlfriends, investigated the neighbors, hoping to find them guilty of some dastardly crime. Where were the clues?

These are the fabrics of our fiction, and we weave them into a tapestry that eventually becomes a book or a story. If you're a writer, do you reach into your memories to craft situations, give attributes to your characters that you loved or hated in someone you knew? In a way, that's what drives the completion and polishing of a book. If you can't get it good enough, no one else will ever read about all of these things.

So, I kept at it...edit after edit...wonderful writer friends helping me along the way. After so many years it clicked. I was ready and now it was time to get really serious. What would it take to get this book to print? The first thing, as it turned out, was to hone it down into two books. No publisher was going to take a 600 page tome unless it was from a J.K. Rowling or a Stephen King. But around 300 pages...that was a workable book.

So, those are my thoughts for tonight.

--Arliss