Writing – Page 8 – Cindy Young-Turner

Memorial Day

I think the first time I ever read my work out loud to an audience was at a Memorial Day assembly in middle school. Our English class had been given an assignment to write a poem about our thoughts on Memorial Day. I took this very seriously because writing was already a passion. By then I’d proudly finished a 100-page novel based on my favorite GIJoe and Star Wars characters and was hard at work on what I was sure would be the next great American novel, an epic science fiction story involving heroic kids, an invasion of Earth, families torn apart by war, and of course some blatant ties to my beloved Star Wars (i.e., some stolen plans to a battle station). So I wrote the best poem I could and wouldn’t you know, my poem was chosen to be read at the assembly. I managed to cause a bit of controversy because one line used the word “hell.” It was in the proper context, but this was a small New England town in the 80s. Those were different times back then. I think the line was “some soldiers thought they were living through hell” or something like that. It rhymed well with whatever came before it, plus in my mind, it was true. To my school’s credit, no one asked me to change it.

Regardless of what I think about the conflicts our country is currently involved in or has been involved in previously, I have always thought highly of the men and women who put their lives on the line for our freedom and my right to have my own opinions. That’s what freedom is all about. A special thanks on this day to those who have served and who are currently serving and may be risking their lives. May you all come home safe.

Letting go

I’m a pack rat, I admit it. I have boxes of letters, school papers (really, some brilliant ones from college), and old toys (if only I hadn’t opened and played with those Star Wars toys I could sell them and quit my day job), and don’t get me started on the boxes of various drafts of my book. Some of these drafts are wildly different from the final version, not to mention embarrassingly bad. A couple years ago, when I thought the book was “finished,” I purged a lot of the hardcopy comments from my critique groups. But I still managed to keep one, okay, maybe two boxes, plus the stack on the floor of my office. Now that the book is finished and will soon be in print, I know I should make a big recycling trip. No need to save something that is no longer relevant. Even if all my computers crashed and my backup files were lost, why would I want really old drafts? At this point, I’ve read the book so many times I could probably rewrite it from memory.

Letting go of the book itself, however, is hard. I’m a perfectionist. I can spend an hour laboring over a paragraph, trying to get just the right words and rhythm. The final editing process took a lot longer than I thought and was a lot harder than I expected, but I know the final product is a darn good book. I just don’t want to read it. I’ve read through it I don’t know how many times over the past few months. Finally, I had to let it go. I could probably spend another two months “perfecting” the book and it still might not be perfect enough for me. But it’s being published. Soon I’ll be able to hold a copy of my book and display it on the shelf, proud to have accomplished my dream of seeing it in print. Other people will read it and hopefully enjoy it. Maybe in six months I might want to open the book and read it again.

How do you know when to let a manuscript go? Do you finally lay it aside and move on to the next project, or do you keep tinkering with it, as I’ve done? I wonder if authors can create a “director’s cut” of their book, like so many movie directors seem to be doing these days. Here’s the book I really wanted to write, with all the pieces the editor suggested I cut because they slowed the flow. On second thought, there’s a reason why we have editors. I guess I’ll have to get cracking on my next book instead.

My first post

This post launches the new blog and my journey as an official author! Last week I submitted the final edits for my first novel, Thief of Hope, which will be published by Crescent Moon Press next month. It has been a very intense two months or so of editing, but I’m really happy with the changes I’ve made. They really improve the writing and the story. Thief of Hope is a romantic fantasy chronicling the adventures of Sydney, a pickpocket and street urchin. This unusual heroine becomes a leader in the fight against an oppressive regime and searches for her own redemption along the way. If you like fantasy with a bit of romance, I hope you’ll check it out. And please join me as I write more on the road toward publication and the writing process. It promises to be an interesting ride.