 The biggest secret I ever kept from my husband was that I was writing a novel. We've been together close to 15 years and I'm sure from time to time I'd murmur something about 'having done some writing today' but I never talked much about the content.
I guess at some point he knew I was working on a mystery of sorts, and maybe that it was set in seventeenth-century England, but really, that was about it, until a few years ago when I began to write in earnest. I didn't set out to keep my novel-writing a secret. The truth is, I wasn't writing every day (I do have two young children and well, a whole other career), but I also didn't view myself as a writer, let alone as an author. Sure, I "author" academic publications, but to call myself a "writer" felt somehow pretentious, even precious. I also felt that if I talked about my story, I would somehow lose it, that it would slip into the ether. And I still feel that way! (Case in point: my husband has now read the second book in the series, From the Charred Remains--the only person who's done so-- but he's yet to read the entire other novel I wrote while A Murder at Rosamund's Gate was out on submission to agents). So when I was writing Rosamund's Gate, I never really knew any other writers...or so I thought. I wasn't taking writing classes; I'd never participated in a critique group; and I hadn't yet encountered the vibrant online writing community that I now know about. So I've been pleased and surprised to discover, when I finally started telling people that I had written a book, how many other people were thinking about--or were actively engaged in--writing novels too. Childhood friends, neighbors, family members, colleagues, parents of my kids' friends, random acquaintances at the coffee shop--sometimes I wonder who's NOT writing a book. So what's YOUR book about? And I'm just so curious--what stage are you at? Brainstorming, dreaming, plotting, most of a draft done...or even further? I'd love to know!
16 Comments
6/25/2012 11:59:35 am
It's can be hard to admit to writing a novel to some people. It took me a very long time to tell my colleagues at work, who knew when I was hired that I wrote, that I was actually writing a novel and what it was about. I've been writing since I was a teenager, and even then I felt that if I told someone about my novel, the inspiration would disappear. These days, I've finished a novel, which is going through one last edit before it goes to my readers, and then will make the rounds with agents. It's a historical novel set in Victorian England, with an eccentric noblewoman trying to save the man she once loved from being hung as a traitor. It was immensely fulfilling to research and a great pleasure to write. And the nice thing is that I've learned to speak quite comfortably with my colleagues about it. My husband is also a writer, so he knew about this from the start--well, once I finished the first draft. I tend to be secretive about projects until I've completed a draft. Perhaps there is something to be said about excess conversation about a novel draining ideas . . .
Matt
6/25/2012 12:50:13 pm
Great blog! How ever did you keep such a secret for so long?!? Another whole book as well. Can't wait to read everything!
Vas
6/25/2012 10:15:10 pm
Great insight into the world of the writer! Could be a book in and of itself!
Debbie
6/25/2012 10:26:23 pm
I'm at the "I-want-to-write-a-novel-but-I-can't-come-up-with-a-cogent-plot" phase. I've sketched out characters and have a fairly well conceptualized setting, but the story has yet to reveal itself to me. Considering I've never thought of myself as a writer, I have allowed myself the luxury of not getting too worried about it. It will come or it won't. Still, I know what you mean about keeping it under wraps. This is the first place I've ever admitted my ambitions publicly. For now I'm content to just keep reading. Debbie, maybe you're a "pantser"--you write first and figure it out later. I definitely did that for my first book (of course, there's probably a direct correlation between my following that method and the fact that it took me about ten years :-) Many many rewrites go with that method! 10/3/2013 05:30:46 pm
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Susanna CalkinsHistorian. Mystery writer. Researcher. Teacher. Occasional blogger. Categories
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