Stevie Szabad, Author

So, it was relatively easy to be inspired to write my first book, Camp Follower One Army Brat’s Story by Michele Sabad. It was, after all, the story of my own life. As followers of this blog know, it was written as a memoir in short stories that were both fun to write and easy to imagine – I was there, after all!

Now, I am at the start of another book. It is fiction this time. I still want to write it in the style of connected short stories, each a satisfying chapter but that are narrated together to tell a larger story. I’m ready to share some things about this new project – it is historical fiction in the grandest sense – pre-historical even. I’m fascinated by the origins of our species and hope to convey that fascination via imagined characters of the distant past. Lifelong interest combined with stories that (I repeat this often), I myself would like to read, will be the inspiration for this new book.

The imaginings, the empathy of the lives of the characters, the settings, the themes, even the path to conclusion – these are coalescing already in my mind. I do a lot of planning and research before I hit the keyboard. I must get to know the story before I can write it.

So now it’s time to hit that keyboard and do the hard part – the actual writing! I’ve heard and follow other writers who say the writing is the easiest part – words become sentences become paragraphs – but that’s not true for me. I prefer the planning, the imagining, the revising! But soon, it’s work time – the writing. I even schedule and need work-like coffee breaks when writing. It is work. In fact, I think this work part is the reason most people with great ideas for stories and books simply never write them, especially in retirement like I’m doing – it’s work, and I’ve done enough work in my lifetime. But. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. There’s no play-acting at it. Do it like a pro, ie, Work at it.

So enough of this update on the progress of Book 2. It is progressing. I’m excited, but have days where it’s a slog. Those days, I remember this : “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft