If you find yourself in this category, it is unlikely, while not impossible, of course, you’ll be rich, or even partly-wealthy for starters, or – more pertinent – a household name…All that chopping and changing – a poem here, a serious article there, a travelogue and then a short story and some silly limericks… will only confuse a possible “readership,” if that’s the word. Keeping a diary, penning a funny piece and writing factual stuff in between, doesn’t help one iota. I can claim to be one, so I’m doomed to mediocrity, although I’ve written five books (which can, again, be termed “eclectic.”) Two are factual, one is a biography, another a memoir; a fifth is my only novel, and the sixth an “adaptation.” Entirely my own fault and choice, of course. Deep down, I know the real reason…I’m a “literary butterfly” more like a moth…and am fearful of fame; a typical extrovert/introvert, with an emphasis on the introvert All those photographers and all that money?! I imagine looking for the exit sign.…What a silly woman!
The secret to being a truly successful writer is – usually – sticking to one genre/ writing a series (or being a wealthy genius). Of course, there are some brilliant writers “out there” who are educated and talented people. Hard graft and tenacity are part of the equation, and in today’s literary climate, being technically minded is also of huge benefit, which leaves many more mature writers out on a limb. Including me! If a door states PULL, I hesitate…so that will give you a clue as to my technical abilities. A wing and a prayer come to mind, and I’m not religious…Hey ho.
However, did you feel a “But” coming on? Now and then, I step outside my “introverted self” and toot my own trumpet – something I have, grudgingly, learned to do these past few years…When asked to adapt an autobiography by a friend, Graham Knight, I read the manuscript – typed by his grandfather with a head device as he suffered from Parkinson’s disease and had lost his right arm due to wounds sustained in the First World War – I readily agreed. What a man, and what a story! Aptly published on the 11th of November, “From the Prairie to Passchendaele” is the life story of a poor boy, born at the end of the 1800s, in Kent, UK, in a family of twelve children, he borrowed the money to emigrate to Canada, dreaming of becoming a cowboy…Ending up as a hard-working farmer, tending bullocks and horses and countless acres of prairie-land, at seventeen, he soon became a man! Sadly, World War I intervened and put paid to his farming life. Part of the tenacious 10th Canadian Military Unit, he bravely fought in many battles and was awarded the Military Medal at the eventual cost of his right arm. He retrained as an accountant – by then married with four sons – returned to Kent and prospered, despite painful interludes. Fred’s simply but powerfully told story, highlights the sheer guts and courage it took to make your way in the world in those hard days. No wonder Graham Knight is so proud of him!
Note: 2017 is the 100th Anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele in which Fred fought.
From the Prairie to Passchendaele is available now from amazon.com
Joy Lennick 