So, it’s 2015. It occurred to me today that I’ve always said that I started writing seriously in 1970. So, that’s (according to my calculator) 45 years ago.
Huh.
Of course, it’s not like I started on any one particular day. But it was some time around 1970 that I started writing pretty seriously, almost every day.
I don’t think I ever said, “I want to be a writer” (let alone an “author,” which has always sounded incredibly pompous to me). I just wanted to write. Writing was (and is) more fun than not writing.
So, I thought it would be fun to look back at what I’ve managed to produce over that time span. First I was going to write one big blog post, covering everything, but that seemed like it would be exhausting to write, and probably exhausting to read as well.
Then I read about this thing called “Seven Sentences Sunday,” which I learned about at Tiyana’s blog (hey, Tiyana’s posting again — drop in and say Hi!). So, I’m kind of adopting that idea, though with a twist, since these are not works in progress.
(And obviously I got it wrong to start with, since it’s apparently supposed to be eight sentences, but I remembered it as seven when I was writing this — probably drawn by the alliteration.)
Starting today, every Sunday I will post seven sentences (or eight, I guess) from one of the things I’ve written, with a little commentary. I’m going to start at the beginning and take them in order.
1. A Sane Woman
For my first twenty years of writing, I mostly produced junk. All of which is (happily) not locatable by any search engine you can possibly use, because the Web didn’t exist back then.
Heh, heh.
In 1990, I hit on the idea of serial publication, and started to write A Sane Woman, a novel which was published in little monthly chapbooks (yes, paper). There are a couple of things I’d do differently if I was writing it now, but I’m still pretty pleased with it.
It’s available in book form here. It’s available on the web here, or if you want it all in one file (specially formatted for e-readers), you can go here.
Here’s seven sentences. This is the “inciting event,” or whatever they call it in the how-to manuals, and it turned out to be exactly seven sentences long, so it was the obvious choice:
Perry found himself thinking how nice it would be to go home. Then he sat bolt upright as a howl of anguish came from Sam’s room. He stumbled to his feet and crashed into Sarah as he ran to Sam’s room.
They opened the door all the way and stood transfixed in the doorway. Sam stood naked, his back against the wall, looking at the bed. The bedclothes were tangled and ripped, and covered in blood. There was no sign of Terry.
Hey, Anthony. Thanks for the link love. 😉
This was an interesting snippet! I’m definitely left thinking, “What in the world happened here???” I don’t know who Terry is (yet), but the fact that (s)he’s mentioned but isn’t there just adds more intrigue to the situation.
Nice suspense!
Thanks. With some of the later stories it may be a little harder to pick the seven (or eight) sentences, but this book has a pretty clear focus.
I will pass along the best bit of advice I got from a reader about this book, which I have always kept in mind since. There’s a Terry, obviously, and a Sam, and, though she doesn’t enter the scene until the following paragraph, a Nicky. The comment was that there were too many characters in the book with names which were not gender-specific, and that made things confusing. I’ve tried not to make that mistake again.
That’s great advice! Who knew names in stories could be such tricky business, heh.
And for what it’s worth, I do think “Seven Sentence Sunday” has a better ring to it than eight. 😉
I like this idea! Good way to look back at the past and celebrate all the fun you had while writing.
Maggie: It is that — a celebration — of course, but I think it’s also going to help me figure out what I want to work on next, since my current story is almost done. I don’t think I’ll start something else new right away, but I have a couple of unfinished projects and a couple of others that need some editing, so I think this will help to sort everything out.
Tiyana: Alliteration aside, I’m already thinking about next week, and that one may be nine sentences. Oh, well. 🙂
Writing is far more fun than not writing. 🙂
I see blog posts sometimes about who is a “writer” and who isn’t, or when do you get to be a “real writer” and are you a “writer” or an “author.” I always feel rather simple-minded when all I can think of to contribute is “I write. It’s fun.”