That’s What It’s All About

There’s a question that I’ve been getting a lot lately.  It’s always some version of  “I heard you’re writing a book.  What kind of book is it?”  or “Hey, what’s your book about?”  Being the verbal wordsmith that I am, my answer always goes a little something like this:  “Uh, well, it’s sort of, uh…it’s really kind of hard to say.” 

I started out wanting to be mysterious.  I thought that if I gave away too much about the book, no one would feel the need to actually read it.  I have since realized that people aren’t going to be very interested in my book if I can’t even come up with one halfway intelligent sentence about it.  After my typical answer, I can just see them thinking, “Yeah, that sounds great” or “Oh, I’m gonna rush right out and buy that one.”  Even worse, I’m beginning to worry that people think the whole thing is a joke, that I couldn’t possibly be writing a real book that will actually be published someday.

Since I’m better at writing than speaking, I figured I might as well set the record straight here, in my blog.  Yes, I am writing a real book; I’m not just messing around.  I hope to have it published someday.  For the past five years I’ve been taking classses and reading books to educate myself about the art of writing fiction.  Going into it, I thought I already knew a lot about writing, but I am amazed at everything I’ve learned.  I don’t have a degree to show for it, so the proof will have to be in my work.  Unfortunately with two kids to raise, the going is slow.  That is why you’ve seen not one shred of evidence of this book’s existence.

As far as what type of book it is, it really is hard to categorize it.  Or maybe it’s that I don’t want to pigeonhole it.  “Mainstream Fiction” sounds so boring and non-descriptive, but that’s what it is.  It has some elements of romance, but it doesn’t follow the formula of the typical romance novel.  (You know the one I mean.  Boy meets girl.  Boy and girl can’t stand each other.  Boy and girl have one passionate night together and then end up hating each other even more.  Boy and girl refuse to speak to each other.  Boy and girl finally realize that they’re madly in love and live happily ever after.)  Some people might call it “chick lit”.  I’d like to hope it would also appeal to men, but that may just be wishful thinking.

It’s a first person novel.  The story is told by a woman who, by no coincidence, is a lot like me.  It’s deals mainly with the enduring relationships in her life: friendship, sisterhood, the parent-child relationship and yes, a romantic relationship.  It’s about how these relationships begin, how they evolve over the years and what they mean to our heroine.  It shows what happens when people test the boundaries of these relationships.  It’s also about the struggle between living the life you want versus the life other people expect you to have.  Just like with my blog, I try to infuse a touch of humor to keep it entertaining.

I have drawn from my own life experiences for inspiration, but all the characters and situations in the book are fictional.  The only real thing is the setting.  The story actually came from a novel I began writing when I was sixteen about the place my family went every year for vacation.  About five years ago I found this story and decided to finish what I’d started.  (At sixteen I didn’t have the determination or attention span to make it past Chapter 3.)  Since then it has evolved to the point where virtually nothing from the original is left.  That’s OK, though; stories have to start somewhere.

I am having a blast writing this book.  It’s my refuge from the stress of everyday life.  At the end of a long day, I love to sit with my laptop and let myself escape into this world I’ve created.  I recently read a quote by an author (I can’t remember which one) that was something to the effect of:  no one gets more pleasure out of a novel than the author who wrote it.  This is so true, and I hope it will show in the finished product. 

And that, in a really large nutshell, is what it’s all about.