The associate pastor at my church will from time to time give “Random Thoughts” homilies. I don’t know how random his thoughts are, but in the end, the sermon covers what we need to know about the readings for that week. If he can do it, surely I can. Welcome to today’s blog post on random thoughts.
I do encourage aspiring writers like myself, to enter contests at the writing conventions they attend. The contest can force you to write on an unusual topic, and nearly all of them have word limits. The smaller the word limit, the more precise words you have to use to express your character’s thoughts so a reader can relate to him or her. I wrote a contest story this week about three young adults on a mission trip. Originally, the theme was going to be romantic, but I turned it into a tragedy. You never know where your characters will take their story. Remember, history doesn’t write itself.
As a bonus, when you do become rich and famous and get the “New York Times Best Seller” stamp on your book cover, you can publish all the short stories and contests stories you wrote those many years ago in one tome. This will give your audience a peek into your work before you were famous. Write on and keep what you write. If you make repeated appearances at the same event, you could take your characters from year one and advance their story in year two.
And speaking of the “New York Times Best Seller” stamp on your book cover, I shopped at my local Barnes and Noble recently and saw a majority of the books with that prized blurb on the cover. It is hard to find a book for sale that wasn’t a New York Times bestseller. Does Barnes and Noble only sell New York Times bestseller books? I hope not. The world is full of talented authors that aren’t master marketers. We write.
My last random thought concerns George R.R. Martin. He wrote a fabulous series called A Song of Fire and Ice. He’s still writing the series. HBO based Game of Thrones on this series. It took him five years to write and publish book four in the series. It took him another six to do the same for book five. Six years have passed since A Dance with Dragons hit the shelves. During this time, he’s done quite a bit of marketing promotion for Game of Thrones. The time he spent marketing took him away from writing. I do wish him good health because I do not want A Song of Fire and Ice to end up like Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. Writers need to write. Marketers need to market.
A few random thoughts from an aspiring writer. We write because spending time with our imaginary friends brings us great joy. Let us write. Let the marketers market. History doesn’t write itself.
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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what I’m reading. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I finished Rediscover Jesus: An Invitation by Matthew Kelly. I also read two short books on prostitution in the West. The first book was Tainted Ladies: Female Outlaws, Renegade Women and Soiled Doves of the Wild West by Vickie Briton. The second book was Madam Dora DuFran – Cat House Queen of Deadwood Gulch. I reviewed all three books on Goods Reads. Up next is Humanae Vitae: Of Human Life by Pope Paul VI. This will start a six book endeavor of reading the basis for St. Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.