Authorship, A Creative Journey

I have been thinking and it dawned on my that I have never formally introduced myself.

Hello. My name is JoAnn Arnold from sunny Santa Clara, Utah and I have five published books. They are: "Miracles for Michael," "Journey of the Promise," "Pages From the Past," "the Silent Patriot," and "Prince Etcheon and the Secret of the Ancient." I love to write, I love to paint and I love to work on my Family History.

Now to my post. I was a speaker at a writer's conference in Arizona some months ago, and today I would like to share with you some of the thoughts of my presentation.

I asked myself, "Wouldn't it be nice if writing was as simple as eating a chocolate bar or getting out of bed one morning and saying to your children, "Children, today I'm going to write a book so you will need to play quietly and fix your own lunch."

Then I asked myself some deeper questions, "How many of us would actually become authors if it were that simple? Would we write if there was no stretch or challenge? Isn't it the challenge that activates and stimulates our curiosity - our creativity - our imagination? aren't we a creative, curious, imaginative group?

In 1963, Alfred Kazin made the statement: "A writer writes to teach himself, to understand himself to satisfy himself. the publishing of his ideas, though it brings gratification, is curiously anti-climatic.

Who would think that having a book published could possibly be anti-climatic? But then, is it not the journey traveled as the story begins to unfold in the mind, and in the imagination, that brings true satisfaction?

We have all been asked, at one time or the other, what the recipe is to becoming a published author. So I did some research and this is what I discovered:

As Writers we learn to think for ourselves. We are honest in our writing. We have taught ourselves to read as a writer. We inspire ourselves to embrace the vision of being a creator and learn the skills we need to write compelling works. we have learned the importance of revision. We read, write, and we never, never give up. We think to get ideas. And if the ideas don't come, we think harder.

The author, Ayn Rand said, "the solution is alway to think over every aspect of the scene and every connection to anything relevant to the rest of the book. Think until you almost go to pieces; think until you are blank with exhaustion. Then, the next day, think again - until finally, one morning, you have the solution.

Rumer has it that creative people rely on effortless inspiration or spontaneity. Not true!!! It's persistence they rely on. Albert Einstein said, "I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times I'm wrong. the hundreth time, I'm right."

That's enough for today. Thank you for reading my post.