It's another week of the term down, and another 10,000 words later - and a great many antibiotics later. I'm now into the weekend and feeling slightly more human than I was last week. I had put off going to the doctor for about a month, but when I saw my grandparents and realised that I probably looked somewhat insane to them not going, I decided it might be worth a trip. Let's hope the recovery is permanent and not temporary.
I'm pleased to report that paperbacks for books two, three, and four of the series are underway - despite all appearances - however, Amazon does not appear to like second editions released by a second publisher, no matter how legitimate the paperwork that we've shown them is. Hence, Amazon's review process is what is causing length delays in this department. It does not appear that I'll have the seven books out before my twenty-fifth birthday as I at first wished. However, when I think about it, that seems inconsequential, as I originally thought I would not even have written all seven books by that time. And I have. So I've already met the largest part of the goal.
Once my husband asked me if I ever got depressed over how hard I worked and how slow things move in the publishing world - how it seems that much of your work will go unseen till your dying day and so on. It was a depressing question (though kindly meant) and it got me thinking.
The other week, we met some missionaries from Spain. They have been working for five years and have only had one convert in that time. You can imagine how discouraging that is. Especially if you happen to have the most extraordinary revelation in all the universe in your hands (the Bible), and no one wants a bar of it. That's quite often the case in this life. The strangest things (the things you are least likely to believe or want to believe are true) are in fact reality, and the things that you have accepted for decades and never questioned are swathed in unreality and corrupt agendas. However, unreality is more popular than truth, and corrupt agendas taste sweeter than wisdom. It has been that way since the serpent told Eve that the forbidden fruit would make her wiser than God.
Anyhow, upon hearing about these missionaries, I was reminded somewhat of the author's life - the futility one can experience. And I was also reminded that sometimes when you set out on a mission, the very first person to change is you. However ridiculous it sounds, writing has done me a great deal of good. It has helped me to understand the world a little better. It has enabled me to empathize with people in situations that I may never find myself in. It has been a survival tool, a fashioner for character development in my own life. It has taught me perseverance and patience. It has beaten me into a humbler person.
So I trust the process. I understand that I may be dead for two hundred years before anyone truly enjoys my books and I gain a huge readership. I understand that even that may never happen. But I have written stories that had to be told. And I know that they have done my heart good. My pupils, my friends, my relatives have all experienced the me that came out on the other end of a seven book series. And it is a chastened me, a me that is a little older and wiser. In me, they have met my story. So in a sense, anyone who has spoken to me is a reader.
And writing isn't really that futile after all.
So don't expect a calling to be glamorous, and don't expect to have one hundred percent success in each mission you undertake. But do expect change. And it will be, someway, somehow, for the better.
I'm pleased to report that paperbacks for books two, three, and four of the series are underway - despite all appearances - however, Amazon does not appear to like second editions released by a second publisher, no matter how legitimate the paperwork that we've shown them is. Hence, Amazon's review process is what is causing length delays in this department. It does not appear that I'll have the seven books out before my twenty-fifth birthday as I at first wished. However, when I think about it, that seems inconsequential, as I originally thought I would not even have written all seven books by that time. And I have. So I've already met the largest part of the goal.
Once my husband asked me if I ever got depressed over how hard I worked and how slow things move in the publishing world - how it seems that much of your work will go unseen till your dying day and so on. It was a depressing question (though kindly meant) and it got me thinking.
The other week, we met some missionaries from Spain. They have been working for five years and have only had one convert in that time. You can imagine how discouraging that is. Especially if you happen to have the most extraordinary revelation in all the universe in your hands (the Bible), and no one wants a bar of it. That's quite often the case in this life. The strangest things (the things you are least likely to believe or want to believe are true) are in fact reality, and the things that you have accepted for decades and never questioned are swathed in unreality and corrupt agendas. However, unreality is more popular than truth, and corrupt agendas taste sweeter than wisdom. It has been that way since the serpent told Eve that the forbidden fruit would make her wiser than God.
Anyhow, upon hearing about these missionaries, I was reminded somewhat of the author's life - the futility one can experience. And I was also reminded that sometimes when you set out on a mission, the very first person to change is you. However ridiculous it sounds, writing has done me a great deal of good. It has helped me to understand the world a little better. It has enabled me to empathize with people in situations that I may never find myself in. It has been a survival tool, a fashioner for character development in my own life. It has taught me perseverance and patience. It has beaten me into a humbler person.
So I trust the process. I understand that I may be dead for two hundred years before anyone truly enjoys my books and I gain a huge readership. I understand that even that may never happen. But I have written stories that had to be told. And I know that they have done my heart good. My pupils, my friends, my relatives have all experienced the me that came out on the other end of a seven book series. And it is a chastened me, a me that is a little older and wiser. In me, they have met my story. So in a sense, anyone who has spoken to me is a reader.
And writing isn't really that futile after all.
So don't expect a calling to be glamorous, and don't expect to have one hundred percent success in each mission you undertake. But do expect change. And it will be, someway, somehow, for the better.
