Autumn 2018 entered silently here, as if it had concluded a pact with summer to delay making its presence known for a little while longer. Yet,  while days are sunny and pleasant to the skin, the cool of the night sucks fast the warmth accumulated in the living matter; you see the gray sparrows being prominently busy on the trees; and the insects having secured their next generation, are disposing off carcasses to fertilize the flamboyant earth. No more sweat and laziness in the August heat; less outdoors activities under blue skies and bright nights. Now, comfort dictates to sit down and write, a hot drink on the desk, a frown to a noisy disturbance from the street, a smile when finishing a scene; and, Gigi, my gray cat lying down on a bookcase shelve across me, flips her eyes open any time I read aloud the words I wrote last, or make the slightest noise with tapping my fingers on the desk.

It’s not just the expectation of revenues that inspire someone to write; of course, that may be as important to cover needs, and when it is chosen as a career, it becomes even more important to the writer. Neither is it a perky want to be famous or glamorously celebrated. It is something else; it is like the craving to communicate our internal world, to reveal wishes and disappointments, and to express perceptions and experiences.  Dreams and imagination, -our senses and sensibilities, would determine fiction and both the action and the output in itself are pleasing; because they intend to satisfy the desire to participate into the concerns of others, real or imaginary, and for a short period you are content in solitude.

Fiction writing does that.  The more you write the more the sparks of creativity become brighter. Mingling reality with imagination creates plausibility in fairy stories; exploring possibilities from actualities form new situations and develop scenarios; and, even the complete figments of mind build up new cases in new lands and diverse domains: A universe of human resourcefulness and mind wonders.

Not everyone, though, has an immediate successful publishing output, in terms of copies sold and revenues. In the last twenty years or so, there is a proliferation of courses in ‘creative writing’ provided for by schools, universities or specialized companies, and which makes it widely available what ‘good writing’ is all about: plotting and settings, techniques and finishes, voice and style, all for anyone who aspires to become a writer. Yet, there are many factors to determine the success of a book apart from a good story, whether this is a fiction piece or a real life happening.

There can be hundreds of finished manuscripts submitted to agents at a given time, to select from and promote to publishing; and, inevitably, in the age of globalization, the suift judgement of the commercial value of each such piece plays a major role. Profit was always a driving force in any economy, sometimes not expressed in terms of money. Publishers need the independent agents to filter what is viable for a good sales strategy and agents screen what they receive to suit marketing. So, there comes the rejection phase of a manuscript. It is a sort of cruelty to the anticipating savant who cannot like the disappointment of his ‘masterpiece’ being treated as a ‘this isn’t quite right for my list at this time, so I must decline…’ bit of a reply to a query or submission of the synopsis and a few pages of the story.

And here is what is happening to my debut novel, SHARING HER APPLES. It seems a challenge the story to fit into such of a list, as the theme is about the feelings and the acts of a woman suffering from abuse and degradation during a war.  Yet, the writing and the plots of the edited manuscript are said to keep the interest of the reader unabated to the last word. I’ve been quite disappointed for some time because of the rejections and started this blog to let out steam when I’m not writing my second fiction. And actually I’m grateful to Erica Verrilo’s encouragement to carry on writing ,and her advice ‘to never ever abandoned trying’ for an agent and/or a publisher for my debut novel. This page is to her.

PS NOTE:

I don’t know Erica Verrilo personally. She is an author and a blogger, and I have found her site in Facebook, ‘Publishing …. And Other Forms of Insanity’, publishedtodeath.blogspot.com’.  Her advice-information about literary agents, book contracts, book promotion, editors, rejections, pitching, getting reviews etc., are invaluable, so I became a follower. I would recommend anyone who is in the business of writing to visit her site: https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/

In addition, I admire her courage and decency in campaigning for the refugee kids in the USA, in contrast to her country’s president that doesn’t seem to appreciate what civilization is all about.