When asked how I became a writer, my reply is always: “These people came to live in my head and they wouldn’t go away until I told their stories.”
You see, I am not one of those writers who knew from grade school she wanted to be a writer. I don’t have tattered manuscripts from the fourth grade or even the twelfth. No. I was strictly a reader until my mid-thirties. Like a lot of people, I had trouble sleeping, and one night as I stared at the ceiling a man appeared in my vision. He stood at a window, and in the background were billowing smokestacks. He turned and looked at me, and said, “This wasn’t the way my life was supposed to turn out.”
Immediately, I wondered what happened in his life. After that every night I wrote stories in my head about why his life turned out badly. I wish I’d written them down, but at the time, I didn’t know how to form a story. A few weeks later, I found a card in a magazine advertising Writers Digest and subscribed to it. I devoured every article each month, paying particular attention to the fiction writers. Slowly I learned how to craft a story.
Characters still visited me at night, and I started writing their stories down. I soon had my very first short story typed on a portable Hermes typewriter (Thank goodness for computers!). Since I’ve never lacked boldness, I quickly dispatched it to Woman’s World. Unbelievably, the editor bought it. I was giddy!
One would think it wouldn’t be long before a book publisher would buy my stories. Not quite. It would be thirty-two long years before that happened. That’s a long time to keep writing without success, but I didn’t give up. I think one of the worst things a writer can do is give up. What if I’d quit writing at year thirty? Or in January of year thirty-two when a publishing contract was just around the corner?
I used those years to grow in the craft of writing. I took classes, learned from some of the best writers, and kept putting words on the page. In October, thirty-two years after I penned that first short story, I was offered a contract for a three-book deal. And May 5, 2020, my ninth romantic suspense book will release: Standoff, Book 1 in the Natchez Trace Park Rangers series. Add my two contemporary romance novels and the total is eleven books and three novellas so far.
My number one piece of advice to beginning writers is, “Don’t Quit!” Let me qualify that. If you can quit, then do so because if you can lay writing aside, then you should because you’ll never make it to the end. Writers write because something inside pushes them to create even as everyone else is asking, “Are you ever going to get published?”
Publishing is a slow business, and a writer needs patience and a thick skin. But in those years of waiting, don’t just sit around. Take writing classes from authors you admire. Read craft books. Learn the craft of writing so that when the door to publishing opens you are ready to walk through it.
If I had quit, Standoff wouldn’t be releasing in May. Two characters who wanted me to tell their stories, Luke Fereday and Brooke Danvers, would not have made it onto the page. Here’s a little bit about their story:
The Natchez Trace National Parkway stretches 444 miles from Nashville to Natchez, the oldest town on the Mississippi River. It’s the perfect road for a relaxed pleasure drive. Unfortunately for park ranger Luke Fereday, lately it’s being used to move drugs. Sent to Natchez to infiltrate the organization at the center of the drug ring, Luke arrives too late to a stakeout and discovers the body of his friend, park ranger John Danvers.
John’s daughter Brooke is determined to investigate her father’s murder, but things are more complicated than they first appear, and Brooke soon finds herself the target of a killer who will do anything to silence her. Luke will have his hands full keeping her safe. But who’s going to keep him safe when he realizes he’s falling–hard–for the daughter of the man he failed to save?
Because I didn’t give up, I have another book to place on my shelf. What one piece of advice would you give a beginning writer?
STANDOFF by Patricia Bradley
Natchez Trace Park Rangers #1
The Natchez Trace National Parkway stretches 444 miles from Nashville to Natchez, the oldest town on the Mississippi River. It’s the perfect road for a relaxed pleasure drive. Unfortunately for park ranger Luke Fereday, lately it’s being used to move drugs. Sent to Natchez to infiltrate the organization at the center of the drug ring, Luke arrives too late to a stakeout and discovers the body of his friend, park ranger John Danvers.
John’s daughter Brooke is determined to investigate her father’s murder, but things are more complicated than they first appear, and Brooke soon finds herself the target of a killer who will do anything to silence her. Luke will have his hands full keeping her safe. But who’s going to keep him safe when he realizes he’s falling–hard–for the daughter of the man he failed to save?
Award-winning author Patricia Bradley introduces you to a new series set in the sultry South that will have you wiping your brow and looking over your shoulder.
Romance Military | Inspirational Romance [Revell, On Sale: May 5, 2020, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780800735739 / ]
Buy STANDOFF: Amazon.com | Kindle
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About Patricia Bradley
Winner of an Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award in Suspense, Patricia Bradley lives in North Mississippi with her rescue kitty, Suzy, and loves to write suspense with a twist of romance. Her Logan Point series is available at all on-line retailers and major bookstores.
Her workshops on writing include online courses with American Christian Fiction Writers, workshops at the Mid-South Christian Writer’s Conference, ACFW Minnesota NICE and Memphis ACFW. When she has time, she likes to throw mud on a wheel and see what happens.
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