J.E.L.L....aahhhh H.E.L.L. N.O.

Nailing Jell-O to a Wall.

I consider myself one of the luckiest people on earth for a lot of reasons.  I may go into some of them another time, but not now.  Suffice to say, one of the things I consider myself lucky about is to be doing what I have always wanted to do and that is to write.  I graduated from high school Derma cum Denta.  For those of you reading this who don’t speak Latin, that means “by the skin of my teeth.”  I never took the SAT’s or talked to a college recruiter.  That was not in the picture for me.  All I wanted out of school was ME.

A lot happened over the years to include a career of some 26 years in the Army, two combat tours during Viet Nam, a recall to active duty in 2004, my wife receiving a kidney from our youngest daughter and my realizing a life-long dream of writing.  First it was short stories and magazine articles and a newspaper column and publication of my first novel while I was on active duty.  Shortly after I retired (the first time) I watched my first screenplay produced and made into a feature film.  Like an addict with his or her first pipe full of crack, I was hooked.

I wrote a second novel and couldn’t give it away.  Nobody wanted it.  No publisher. No agent.  I don’t think my mother would have liked it if I had shown it to her.  But I didn’t let that stop me.  I was hooked, remember.  I loaded my pipe and fired it up again.  Novel number three.  No takers.  Nada.  I set it aside, fired up the pipe again and inhaled.  Number four.  Success!

I found a publisher who liked the book and wanted to publish it.  To make it seem even more like a fairy tale, he called me on my birthday to tell me.  He published that one and asked for the second in a SERIES!  I was on a roll.  I had a series going.  I was going to be rich and famous and then the call came.  “Sorry to tell you the publisher passed away last night and the company is folding.  You can have the rights to your novel back.  Good luck selling it someplace else.”  Now I really did need a crack pipe.

But wait…. there’s more.  I did find another publisher who liked what I wrote and now I have two mystery series in print and they will publish as many more as I can write as long as they sell, after all, it’s a business and they have to make money.

What’s the point of all of this?  Don’t give up.  Writing is like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall.  At first it looks like it won’t work and for most people it won’t.  But you’re a writer.  You’re not a “most people.”  You’re special.  You don’t give up. If you are sitting at a computer, a typewriter or a stack of yellow legal pads wondering if you can ever get published, the answer is probably yes.  It’s not definite.  Few things are and those are not something we look forward to.  But keep at it.  There is someone out there who is looking for what you have to say.  All you have to do is find them.  They’re not going to come knocking on your door.

Fire up the pipe, take a deep breath and go for it.