From Castlebar - County Mayo -

Celia
Hopeful Author
By Celia Anderson
22, Mar 2004 - 13:09

Here I am again on this lovely Monday morning. Well, not too sure about lovely. It might be that at the moment, but about two minutes ago it was raining buckets and the wind threatened to take off a few tiles on my roof. Now at least the sun is shining and the confused sheep are tenderly sticking out their noses, testing the air.

Anyhow here I am again… Clicking away on my keyboard. The weekend behind me and I sit here with a big weight off my shoulders. I have just completed the last of my twelve children stories. I used to be the proud owner of a complete collection, which I cleverly called "Collection of Tails." (At least I thought it was clever…you know? As in wagging tails …as in animals.) Oh well, I thought it was good, but then I do have a habit of blowing my own trumpet at times.

Used to? You ask. That is because the first collection was burnt to ashes when some not very nice people broke into my brother’s garage in South Africa and stole anything of value. The rest was burnt. So much for the value of writing…( I comfort myself with the thought that they most probably couldn’t read.) That was my batch of hard work going up in flames.

celia_001.jpg
Hopeful Author hard at work :)


I couldn’t or didn’t want to write for a few years, but one morning sitting on the bed in my new Irish room (rented); I picked up my laptop and started clicking away. Soon my collection grew. Some of the stories I wrote from memory and some were brand new. This went on over a couple of years. I was back in business.

When Candice, my first grand daughter was born, I thought it might be a good idea to try and publish the Collection. Wouldn’t it be nice to see her years down the road reading a book written by her very own granny? The bee was in the bonnet and over the next few months I researched the Writer’s and Author’s Yearbook, sucked up any information I could. I even joined a writer’s course to improve my writing and correct old habit, bad habits.

With bated breath I sent off sample chapters and synopses to one publisher. Contacted a lovely lady who works for another publisher. Slowly I was gathering useful information. The second publisher requested the stories for review. I was over the moon. Thank goodness the curtains were drawn, otherwise I might have been arrested for indecent exposure. Serves me right reading my email right after my bath. Well, to get to the point. I was delighted. Now dear reader, I am not naïve, I am aware that they might come back with a rejection or might put me in my place or knock me off my high horse…but I live in hope. At the very least I will have a professional opinion on my collection, not just the fantastic success I’ve invented in my mind.

But now I have jumped the gun a bit. After sending off the sample chapters to the first publisher (don’t know if I may give names, so I’ll just omit them); all was well until one horrid day. My PC crashed…froze…data gone. We tried everything to bring it back to life. Gone, vamoose, missing! You get the picture? Never mind I thought, this clever lady learns fast. I had a back up disc. With I sigh I inserted the CD into its appropriate slot. My smile froze (just like the computer). There was an error on the disc and it would not open. The sky fell in. I had to produce stories for review and all I had was one, which I stored on an older disc. 1 out of 12 is not bad as Meatloaf sang (or was that 3 out of 4) Never mind. I was in a pickle.

Now to cut to the chase. I retyped 4 over two days. Rewrote the other 7 synopses and dashed to the post office. That was two weeks ago. Why am I in such a great mood? Well, let me tell you. I have just finished editing the last three stories. I have them stored on my laptop, PC, back up discs and one other 3.5" disc. I am not chancing fate again. Now I am going to store the discs, copies and files in the fireproof safe I have installed….just messing. Will just have to keep them safe with the hope that they will be needed in the near future. So now I need loads of crossed fingers and prayers to make it happen. I don’t know if my stories are any good, I just have the opinion of my loved ones to rely on, but love can cloud the mind, right?

Maybe I will be another Marian Keyes in the children's department. Not a chance, Marian is unique and I enjoy her books. By the way, it’s raining again.

 



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