Song of the Day: Don’t Stop Believing by Journey
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfUYuIVbFg0
Hello all! As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a member of a writers group called FWA (Florida Writer’s Association.) A few weekends ago, they held the monthly meeting which usually involves a guest speaker. The guest speaker this time was the grandson of the author of The Happy Hollisters series. The Happy Hollisters was a children’s series from the 1950’s written by Andrew Svenson underneath the pen name, Jerry West. The series is now being re-released by Andrew Svenson’s grandson, Andy Svenson. Andy also brought along his sixteen-year-old daughter, Libby. Out of the entire presentation, I found Libby to be the most inspiring.
Libby wrote a novel called Andromeda’s Turn (click the link to find it on Amazon.) Get this, she wrote it when she was thirteen! I almost fell out of my chair when she announced this. I was writing stories at the age of thirteen, but can you imagine writing something worth publishing? I was immediately transfixed. I listened attentively to virtually everything Libby said. She wrote the novel on a car ride from Florida to Maine during the summer of 2007. She was bored and said to herself, “I should write a book.” And just like that, she did.
What was interesting to note was the editing phase. Libby went through rounds of edits before her book was ready for publication (she even brought samples of the different rounds.) As much as I hate editing, we all have to do it, and it pays off. I was very impressed with Libby, her novel is 414 pages long. I read the first page, and I was immediately intrigued. I will be adding this one to my list of books to be read.
Libby’s story has inspired me to keep pushing to edit my novel and get it published. At only sixteen years of age, Libby is a published author. This post was actually prepared a while ago, but the day that I was going to post it, I got a rejection letter in my inbox from a contest I really wanted to win. I didn’t even care about the money. All I wanted was the publishing credentials, and just to know that my work was good enough to be published in that particular literary magazine. When I got the letter, I was depressed, and was in no mood to blog about inspiration.
Of course, being that I’m so passionate about writing, those moments of self doubt are short lived. I simply, “try again.” I revisited the draft version of this post and remembered why I write. Every time I seem to doubt myself, something comes along to remind me and inspire me to write again. That’s how I know my writing career is destiny.
Have you had any of those moments when you were doubting yourself as a writer and something comes along to inspire you?
***I had pictures of the books, but for some reason blogger is not uploading my pictures (surprise, surprise.) I will try to post them again later.***
Wow. I think I'm pretty much envious of being publishable at 16. Scratch that. I AM.
Sixteen?! Wow.
Wow! I didn't even know what I wanted to do with my life at 16…
This is such a good post. I'm sorry for your rejection, but glad you were able to pick yourself up and keep going!
very fantastic
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I figured blogger was having problems when I couldn't get a picture posted to my blog.
I think we've all had those moments of doubt, but it's the love for what we do, the personal satisfaction and an encouraging word at the right moment that keeps us going even when we feel like quitting. This is an inspiring story.
This is a truly inspirational post. It will def. keep me working hard on those edits. Sorry about the contest, btw–keep up that resolve, though and you'll (hoepeful we ALL will) get published soon, I know it 🙂
Wow… I never could have been ready to be published at 16. I was still getting a grasp on adding descriptive details to what I was writing. Very impressive!
Sorry to hear about that contest. We all have those points where we are discouraged about writing. It's the curse of writing, but at some point – we all overcome it and remember that we LOVE writing and it's worth a little pain. 🙂
That is really inspiring. I'm always so impressed by teens who are published.
I'm sorry to hear about the contest. That's great that you're trying again. Perseverance is so important as a writer!