Every time I sit at the computer to write, I ask myself the same question, “Why on earth did I wait until I was 82 to actually try to write a book?”
Here I am at 84 now and I can barely read a written page. My eyes seem to get worse each day because I have macular degeneration. If my son hadn’t put a “man” on my computer to read what I write [an automated program that reads the words to me], I couldn’t do it now – but I have wanted to write as far back as I can remember. Why haven’t I done it?
I suppose part of the answer is lack of encouragement. Oh, I knew I had the ability and skill. I am quite good at conversation, putting together plots, and coming up with characters. The trouble was (and still is) that I am terrible at description. Luckily, this is my daughter Genilee’s strongpoint in writing, along with great editing skills. I think the real reason I didn’t put down some of my ideas, however, is that I was afraid of what others would think of my writing.
Of course, there are also those great daily excuses for not actually sitting down and writing out the stories constantly running through my mind—by this I mean the everyday demands on my life as a wife, mother of four and office manager for my husband’s business. And don’t get me wrong: I WAS writing—I wrote a recipe column for over 30 years for my husband’s newspaper. The recipes were incidental really; the columns were stories about what was going on in the raising of my children.
But I also could have made time to write down my stories. Why didn’t I? The true answer lies within one of the characters in my first book, Twist of Fate. I’ll tell you more the next time we meet. Maybe by then, you’ll be able to read the book!
8-15 From Sharon Swope, author of soon-to-be-released Twist of Fate