I do nothing halfway!
I started out Writing my story for my children to know the heart of their dad and the unconditional Love he had for me. After being apart and not knowing where each other were, we met again after fifteen years. Because of an abusive marriage with my ex-husband, my emotions were in disarray. My newfound love loved me through it and was an amazing man who kept me emotionally above water.
Even if it were only for friends and family, I wanted my writing to be the best I could make it. There were a few articles I had written on parenting and pageants with a short story or two but no experience in writing a novel. I set out to educate myself and equip my skills in the best way possible as I took on the job of writing a book about my love story.
After taking a few classes with local authors, I took an online class with James Patterson. The class was a videotaped lecture. My daughter teaches online vocal classes, so I understood the precept.
I was just starting my book and a review now teaches me my knowledge is more than it was then. At first, I skipped the video on character development because my true story portrayed real-life people with real names. My daughter told me to watch it anyway because I might learn from it and I did.
We had the opportunity to ask questions and make comments during the class period but I was too intimidated to do so at the time . Getting older has emboldened me and I would comment now.
His style is different because he writes fiction novels. I admit I had read none of his books and probably need to. I love all the TV murder mysteries: Murder, She Wrote; Diagnosis Murder and Perry Mason so I am sure I would like his writing. It surprised me when he announced he was collaborating with Bill O'Reilly recently. Not sure what is up with that.
Mr. Patterson told how he wrote for a magazine and newspaper to supplement his income until he had a best seller. I am guessing he need not do that anymore.
My daughter (a surprise born to my husband and me ten months after we married) is an actress/singer and after doing a lot of commercial work in Dallas, moved to L.A. and did more TV drama acting. In 2012, she moved to New York to pursue more theater work because there is not a lot of that available in L.A.
One of her TV writer friends in L.A. told her that love stories are not in an abundance and now would be a great time to put one on the market. She thinks it would be great for a Hallmark miniseries. During my editing class, I did a paper on that concept. Her writer friend suggested I publish the book before allowing filming.
My story will promote classic country music which played a role in our love story. The industry needs a push toward the old style of country, so maybe I am doing this at the right time. I worked for a talent agency in Dallas, and the film and music industry can be volatile.
The difficult part of writing is the research. My story went back to 1958 and in 1973. They had demolished several buildings from that time period and many people didn't remember or had died.
AGAINST ALL ODDS, We Found The Perfect Love has been almost four years in completion. At first, I felt it was because of my inexperience but I’ve read about many successful authors who took longer than that. Priscilla Presley took three years to write her story with Elvis.
#JamesPatterson, #Writing, #LoveStory,
#JamesPatterson, #Writing, #LoveStory,
