Looking back over five years as an author

Five years ago in the cold of winter, during Canada’s initial lockdown, I wrote the first sentence of my first book, Spindrifts. It was an act of desperation so embroiled was I in the moment-to-moment television coverage with my emotions on high alert. What else was there to do in those early days? And I realized I wasn’t coping well.

I pulled out my dusty laptop I’d purchased when I retired and had never even opened, dusted it off, and touched the keys. What came out of my fingers was a complete surprise:

« When Alicia awoke that day, it was with such joy in her heart. »

But who was she? And why was she happy that particular day? What was going to happen?

I had no idea. So I took Charlie, my beloved canine companion, for a short walk around the block, which was allowed during lockdown. My head was spinning with ideas, but nothing concrete came to mind. When I returned home, I sat back down at the computer. What else was there to do, after all?

Then my fingers took over and a reason for Alicia’s joy emerged. And I was filled with the thrill of imagining and writing not merely as an escape from reality but also as an enjoyable way of spending time.

I had not written poetry or fiction since I graduated from secondary school many decades before. And most of my adult writing was work related to my career as an academic— objective, rational, and evidence-based, very different from my dark, anguished creative writing from my teen years.

Immersing myself in creating a place filled with hope, kindness, and which had— at least on the surface—resolved the social issues of our own times was a safe place to visit, and there I discovered several interesting experiences.

First, I was a panster, although I didn’t know the expression at the beginning of writing what became a book. Planning? Writing a framework? Not for me, I realized. I loved the mystery of writing down what came to mind and through my fingers in « real » time. Even when I had an idea about what would happen, I soon discovered my characters often had other ideas. I found this serendipitous process fascinating and so very different from academic writing. And I lived and breathed my story, waking each morning and looking forward to finding out where my characters would bring me that day.

I learned also that, with all the chaos around me, it was a healthy decision to lose myself in creating something. I chose writing. Others chose painting, knitting, blogging, baking bread, helping neighbours—all ways of finding meaning for our lives during lockdown.

I also discovered the importance of professional editing. I had edited two books and a number of papers written by colleagues at various times in my career, so I had some initial hubris about my writing abilities. But fortunately I valued critical feedback.When feedback centered on my own writing, I discovered it was sensible to listen, consider, and make changes that would polish my story.

Once Spindrifts was published, I connected with an amazing community of authors through social media. Many have become friends end though most of us have not met yet in person.

My final discovery has been that retirement can lead to an amazing life filled with the freedom to explore new and long-abandoned dreams. After all, I had declared to my parents at age eight I wanted to be a writer. It just took me sixty years before I turned that declaration into reality.

In the early stage of editing a friend told me my characters were all the same. And she was right. However, in considering how to correct this, I needed to decide the extent to which the world in which my characters were living expected people to control strong emotions. People who raged or showed strong emotions were not tolerated in those future times. So there was lots of conformity, collaboration, and stilted affect. Until a young teen started to change all that.

In my writing the suppressed emotions feelings served as a counterpoint to the chaos and defiance we were experiencing in our own, real world during a time of pandemic. I formulated the ways of living in Land of Hope to calm me and hoped to soothe readers as well.

If you want to explore an ordered world, still with secrets to uncover, where everyone thrives and is respected for what they contribute to the world rather than the way they identify or appear, consider reading Spindrifts.

P.L. Stuart, author of the amazing Drowned Kingdom Saga, ended his review of Spindrifts this way:

« Spindrifts is a book that I feel we need right now more than ever in the face of what we are grappling with as a human race. Read Spindrifts to be encouraged and motivated to see how great we could become. »

link to stores selling Spindrifts can be found at www.ammawhiney.ca