Back when I didn’t know any better, I thought that if an author had talent, she would never, ever have to revise her work. Her words would flow onto the page, pristine and poignant, ready to be read by her adoring fans.
Bebe Daniels giving it all in the name of creative endeavor.
I imagined she wore a cream-colored silk robe – although it could have been pink, yellow or light blue because my successful author was gleaned from a 1920’s black and white movie – cigarette attached to one of those long holder-thingies, she would slink across her high-rise Manhattan apartment and wait for her man-friend to pour her a glass of champagne and fix her up a plate of caviar on little toast rounds whilst reading her reviews in The New York Times. Anything less would be, well, amateur.
Of course the reviews are absolutely glowing — as am I.
Like everything else in life, I’ve learned a few things: I don’t live on the East coast, caviar from the grocery shelf doesn’t taste the same as the kind in the can served at expensive restaurants, nothing comes easy–even if you’re talented, and that smoking is bad for you.
As an author, I may be able to write quickly, but revisions are where the story comes to life – like an athlete practicing a sport. She may not run a stellar hurdle race the first time out of the gate. She may, in fact, fall over the first hurdle and every subsequent hurdle thereafter as she endeavors to complete the race. It isn’t easy. Hurdles are hard and to someone like me, dangerous. But every day she’s back at the track working on her timing, her form, the craft of her sport.
Authors have their own hurdles to jump.
It’s the same thing authors do. We work hard at our craft and sometimes it feels as if we have fallen. The important thing is to get up and continue learning, producing, developing our craft. Our prize isn’t an Olympic Gold medal, though. Our prize is a great book with awesome reviews (and maybe an award or two).
Many thanks to Sharon E. Anderson to allow Chanticleer to publish her timely blog-post that reminds all of us authors the importance of being persistent and to continually push ourselves to hone and develop our writing craft.
Sharon is the award-winning author of several short stories, screen plays, and books. She says,
“Most of my work has to do with the darker side of life. I’m somehow drawn to the anti-hero, the villain, the underdog. But I’m not your typical horror writer, either. In nearly all of my stories you will find hope, redemption, and humor, because if you can’t laugh, you’re already in hell.”
Sharon is also the president of the Skagit Valley Writers League, human servant to Tig the Cat, mother and wife, and a great all-around gal!
The Curse of the Seven Seventies
Cassandra Blake is having a very bad day. Her fiancé dumps her for a silicone debutante and convinces her to store his boxes of precious research. If that wasn’t bad enough, she’s just moved into a cottage stocked only with tinned sardines packed in oil, canned peaches, and 30- year-old Scotch.
Heartbroken, hungry, and a little bit drunk, Cassandra soon realizes that just when she thinks things can’t get any worse, sometimes they can get very strange…like finding a skeleton in the basement of her newly inherited cottage.
But when that skeleton suddenly becomes a hot, romantic, and business savvy vampire named Varo…well, things can get a little better. That is…until his infamous older brother shows up, and their centuries old sibling rivalry threatens her chance at true love.
Can their love survive her conniving ex-fiancé, Varo’s vengeful brother, and the Curse of the Seven 70s?
Edgy, modern, and one humorous vampire tale — an entertaining and fun read. Chanticleer Reviews
Thank you Chanticleer! Much love to all of you lovely peoples <3