Article Contributed on: 4/16/2009 2:10:25 PM
Sometimes you write a book straight from your heart. Often, it may seem like it 's being dictated to you from some higher power. That's the way it was when I wrote
The Other Side of Time.
As a child, I was horrified by stories like
The Diary of Anne Frank. I've always wished there was a way that I could go back in time to stop what happened to 6,000,000 Jews during WWII. I know there have been other wars and other atrocities--plenty of them, but this one seemed personal to me, although I am not Jewish. Maybe I was Jewish in a former life? But, that's another issue.
Anyway, I wrote
The Other Side of Time--centered around 1942 war-torn Germany and 1982 Cape Cod--before I moved to Colorado in 1992. Since that time I've had it edited by two well-known authors: Jimmy H. Butler of Colorado Springs and John Tigges of Dubuque, Iowa. The manuscript has won several awards, but no one has offered to publish it, until I entered it in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest last year.The manuscript did not win the top award, but it was a finalist and Amazon.com/CreateSpace.com offered to publish it. Finally....as of yesterday...the book is in print!
During my long wait to have
The Other Side of Time published, I've had two mystery novels published, but now the wait is over for the book of my heart.
If you have a novel in your head and heart that you want to put down on paper, do it! Don't wait! It may take you a while to write the manuscript with life and work always getting in the way. It may take even longer to get the manuscript published, but the realization of seeing something worthwhile in print...something that came from your heart...will be well worth the wait.
"I don't know where to begin," you say. Begin by writing whatever comes into your head. Maybe it's a description of an opening scene or a description of a character or maybe you just want to write an outline for the story. Whatever it is, just write it. You can revise and edit it later...and you will be starting your manuscript. You will be a writer!
If you need help getting started, try reading
The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler. This book gave me valuable information, helped to motivate me and get me on my 'writing' way.
Cheers!
Jonna
www.jonnaturner.com
https://www.createspace.com/3341046
amazon.com/jonna turner