Writing Up-date
April is a month of milestones for me. As I have mentioned before, one year ago on April 2nd, 2021, I retired from working full time. I am enjoying retirement and have settled into a routine that helps keep me out of my wife’s hair. She has said she thought it might be difficult having me around all the time. But the decision to treat my writing as a job and devote my mornings to writing keeps me from interfering with her daily routine.
Writing is more work than I anticipated. When I retired, I had written approximately half of my first novel, and thought I would have it ready for publication by the end of the year. Little did I understand the amount of work required to edit and rewrite the book once I got to The End. Now it seems it will be at least another year before the novel is ready to publish.
Rewriting the book based on the input provided by my local critique group is in process. Once I am happy with the manuscript, I need to send it to a developmental editor for a high-level review by someone who understands manuscript construction. Someone who can point out things I miss in the normal editing process. Then I will rewrite it again before it can be formatted for publication.
Based on the information I’ve garnered from various sources. It looks like I will try to self-publish the book. Though I may incur higher initial costs, the reduction in lead time to publish is significant, particularly at my age. Some estimates show it could take four years before a manuscript is published even after it is accepted by a publishing house. By self-publishing, I might be able to have three, four, or more books published in that time frame. I am learning many things about the business side of writing through the writing group I joined and various web-based seminars I have attended.
Please pray for me to be able to navigate and afford the process.
Dad’s Fish
Fifty-five years ago, on April 1st, 1967, my dad caught an 11-pound-five-ounce German brown trout out of Eleven Mile Canyon. I remember the day vividly; it was warmer than normal for April and there was no snow even in the canyon. Like so many days on the river, we separated. He dropped me off upstream and I fished down. He would drive down and fish up until we met. That day I was fishing down the river and when I needed to climb to the road to get around a rock, I saw several cars parked along the road downstream. As I walked down the road to get to where I would go back to the stream, I saw people standing along the side of the road outside their cars. I walked down to see what they were watching, and when I came close, my dad let out a long yell. He was standing across the river holding the fish. The people along the road cheered as dad sat down on the rock holding the fish.
The river that day was flowing lower than normal and allowed him to cross above the hole where he caught the trout. We took it to the general store in Lake George and weighed it on their scale. The store owner took a picture to put on the store’s wall and we went home. We didn’t fish any longer that day. When we got home, since it was April Fools Day, we told my mom that I caught it. I still haven’t caught anything that big, and today with the increased fishing along the river, there are fewer fish that size.
Birthday
Finally, this year is one of the occasional years when Easter Sunday falls on my birthday. I think I am happy to be a year older, but I am extremely thankful for the event the holiday represents. It signifies the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My relationship with Him adds so much to my life and I pray you may have that same kind of relationship with the one who died to pay the price for your sins. God Bless You.
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