...And It Is All Good

My sister and I have been "writing a book" for about 5 years now.  Properly stated, she has been writing a book and I have been offering research and opinions.  I loved the book she finished.  It had a young African American protagonist not unlike some of the young men I once taught.  It was historical, which is where the research (my part) came in. We did some trips to check out setting and places and talk to folks about things.  I have seen a lot of Oklahoma as a result.

We went to a writer's conference last weekend.  We were basically told that two white girls writing a book with an African American protagonist was never going to be published and perhaps we had some things wrong anyway.  Realistically, I suppose we did have some things wrong even though we tried and even though we thought we had good excuses for the things that happened in the story.  This information could have knocked the wind out of our writing. In some ways it did.  We are no longer writing a book together.

I could clearly see that I wanted to write a completely different non-fiction book for young people based in the late nineteenth century.  I can't write fiction and honestly I don't want to take the time and effort it would require to learn how to do it.  But I can write non-fiction and that is what I will try to do.  Sessions at the conference helped me to see a clear path to accomplish this goal.  I just need to do the work.  For me research is hardly work, so it is just writing the information that will be the challenge.  (And from my scattered attempts at this blog, you might, dear reader, guess that I do like to write.)  I am not sure if anyone would want to read my book, but that is okay.  I want to write it, regardless of readership.  Over and over again I heard at the conference--write the book that you want to write.

My sister plans to take the original story we imagined and change it around with a white girl as the protagonist and who knows where she will take it from there.  I look forward to reading it someday. What could have been a devastating blow is a relief.  It is frustrating to "co-author" a book that you didn't write a word of and I am sure it was frustrating to write a book and have someone who can't write fiction give all of these suggestions.

So when we returned from the conference and I saw that my last blog post was--Sometimes I Think In Essays, I thought, good thing I like to think that way.  It will serve me well as I attempt to write this book I have running around in my brain.