Writing To Tell Your Story

As I go through the final revision of my new novel, And the Memory Returns, I think of what author Bob Mayer wrote today on Facebook: “If you want to write for a living, you have to take chances. You have to put it on the line. If you want ‘security’ forget about it. It doesn’t exist anyway. If you have a story to tell, tell it. Don’t worry about the ‘market’. Tell your story.”

I have a story to tell and at my age, I’m not worried about the market. I took a risk in writing this because it’s always a risk to put your craft out for public consumption and scrutiny. The joy resides in writing … and knowing that this book will reach readers in a month or two.

And the Memory Returns is the sequel to A Portrait of Love and Honor: A Novel Based on a True Story. (Bob Mayer was kind enough to write an endorsement for that book.) Once again, Ava Stuart and Jay Scioli are central characters. Ava is alone but Jay is always with her in thought and spirit.

When people ask what the new book is about, I practice my elevator pitch: It’s about a woman as she ages, remembering the people and events that shaped her life and asking herself: where she is going, and can she put the past behind her? Along the way, she finds a path forward. It’s never too late.

The cover of my book was inspired by a wooded trail at Longwood Gardens, which is near my home, here in suburban Philadelphia. As I stood in the cool of an October day when visiting the gardens in autumn, the vibrancy of dying leaves offered poignant beauty. I love the colors of my cover, offset by the white font and hope you do too.

It will be interesting to see whether the path I took to publish this book—no accolades from authors on front or back covers, as I did with my other books—just the story—makes a difference in sales. I selected Word-2-Kindle to publish the book under my own imprint Writing Circle Press, which I wrote about in this post. There will be a trade paperback, as well as an E-book.

So, that’s the situation. As always, I remain excited about this time in publishing, one that affords the hard-working and dedicated writer a variety of choices and financial options to publish. It’s a time to pick up that pen, and write, if and, hopefully, when the spirit moves you to tell your story.