Doug Creamer: Writing and inspiring

Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 8, 2017

            Last Monday evening three published authors talked with a warm crowd about our craft at South Rowan Regional Library. It was a fun and informative time of sharing with people who have the desire to write their story. It was our opportunity to encourage and inspire as well as share the reality of the publishing world.

            We started the evening by sharing a little bit about ourselves. Then we shared our writing story and offered a little bit of advice from our experiences. Two of us were self-published authors. We shared how we brought our dream into reality. We each went a different route to accomplish our goal. We shared our pitfalls as well as our joys. We shared some of the nitty gritty of the process as well as some numbers to help the group understand the reality of self-publishing.

            One of the presenters shared her story of being published by a major publishing firm. She talked about how difficult it is to break into the publishing market and then how she got her break. I found her comments to be inspiring and honest about the challenges of breaking into the publishing world.

            All three of us stressed the importance of finding a good editor. An editor doesn’t tell you how good you write. A good editor must be tough and tell you what has to be fixed and how to make it better. While we all agreed that working with an editor is hard because they are tearing apart your precious manuscript, we also agreed that good editors make us all better writers.

            The audience had the opportunity to ask questions and share their experiences, which I found inspiring. Several had been published in papers or magazines but had the dream of writing a book. Some wanted to write fiction while others wanted non-fiction. Some wanted to know about the process of writing while others wanted to know more about how to get their book published. It was interesting for me to listen to the others share how they write with their busy lives.

            I talked a little bit about the difference between writing my columns and writing a book. I talked about how writing my columns helped develop my skills as a writer. I also talked about how difficult it is to watch the cursor on the computer blink when there isn’t anything rattling around in your brain. Other times it seems the muse is in the room inspiring me and I can’t type fast enough. I like those moments.

            Several people asked if I was taking notes for future columns because there was some good material coming out of the time we shared. I find inspiration in many places and will weave them into my writing. The most important inspiration comes from waiting and listening for the voice of my Father in Heaven to guide me where I need to go. Sometimes my columns flow smoothly and other times I have to fight for every word. Often those are the columns that touch my readers the most because I struggled so hard to write them.