During a typical evening in my humble little abode, and after I knock off work, I amuse myself by watching some fav cable shows, usually science, history, or news… geeky stuff mostly, I guess. Or I read… or watch TV and read during commercials… or snooze in the recliner. I occasionally interrupt this rigorous schedule to check my email. I had forgotten the recent message reminding me that the winners of the eLit Book Awards would be announced yesterday. I read the competition details before checking the list of winners.
Finally, I scrolled down the page to the Autobiography/Memoir awards and was blissfully happy to see my memoir, Living on the Sunny Side, next to Gold! I entered on a lark (never hurts to try, right?), figuring that even a bronze award would help with the never-ending promotion all writers must endure… or watch their books die a slow and painful death! I didn’t dare hope for Gold!
Living on the Sunny Side has received two 5-star reviews (one on Amazon for the original print version, one on Smashwords for the more recently updated ebook) and four 4-star reviews on Amazon. Maybe, I thought, it has a chance.
From the Web page:
The first-annual eLit Awards are global awards program committed to illuminating and honoring the very best of English language digital publishing entertainment.
The 2010 eLit Awards were created as industry wide, unaffiliated awards program open to all members of the electronic publishing industry.
The contest is presented by Jenkins Group Inc., a Michigan-based book publishing and marketing services company that has operated the popular Independent Publisher Book Awards contest since 1996.
The eLit Awards celebrate the ever growing market of electronic publishing in the wide variety of reader formats. Hail the revolutionary world of e-books and join the awards program that’s highlighting the best in electronic reading entertainment!
When I became (evidently) permanently unemployed in late 2007, I devoted most of my time to learning to be a freelance writer, taking an online class in proofreading to help me become a better editor, writing my memoir, and last (and in this case, least instead of ‘but not least’) a POD publisher. The publishing business was mostly to publish my own books and perhaps an occasional book for a friend or two. Of necessity, I also learned how to design and format manuscripts as required for submissions/queries to publishers; for print versions; and eventually for ebooks.
There were small successes along the way, mostly from freelance writing, editing, and design. Promoting my memoir took a back seat to earning some cold, hard cash when I started to get some steady work. The other books I wanted to write remained at the very bottom of the to-do list.
Now, the recognition this award could bring has motivated me, big time, to get back to work on the real story of my father’s side of the family. I’ve thought about this book for a while, first deciding to create a novel based on the actual history. But it just didn’t feel right. I was uncomfortable describing Grandma Jenny’s life—it would need to be a bit more erotic than I’m comfortable writing, which wouldn’t bother me as much if it wasn’t about actual relatives—described in detail in more than sixteen single-spaced pages of notes and two completed first-draft chapters my parents wrote when they learned my father was dying. I felt somewhat guilty putting words in the mouths of people I never knew, words from my own mind/fantasies, and describing the corresponding actions. Did the research. Traced the family tree back as far as I could. Put it aside.
Just recently, I nixed the fact-based novel genre and have come up with a possibly viable approach, using my parents notes and adding the results of my research and my own insights. (I’m almost convinced I’m grandma’s reincarnated self, or am at least channeling her. The similarities are amazing. I just have been significantly better behaved.) We’ll see how that works out. But at least I’m motivated now to see what I can come up with so I can finally complete The Notorious Mrs. Dauber.
And if I get stuck… I’m much more motivated to work on the other bottom-of-the-list projects, especially now that I understand they may work best as ebooks.
It has taken me close to four years to see anything ahead in this long dark tunnel, anything but pitch black. Little by little, another speck of light appears in the distance. Then another. And another…
I’m convinced that the keys to success in anything include learning the trade/craft you want to practice; having some basic abilities and a strong drive to learn to improve them; and allowing yourself to ‘march to a different drummer’ when necessary. But most important, as a writer, is probably to develop a thick skin, a lot of patience, and the tenacity to keep trying for as long as it takes!
Oh, yeah! And it’s helpful if you can talk yourself out of the occasional depression when you believe the “muse” has abandoned you!
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