SUBSCRIBER
Share your writing success stories. If you subscribe to Writing Magazine and would like to feature here, email Tina Jackson, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk
SPOTLIGHT
It’s been an adventure
‘If I had known from the very start exactly how hard it would be to be a self-published author, would I have set out on my chosen path?’ writes subscriber Heath Shedlake.
‘You bet! I’m not referring to the art of writing per se, it’s more the hard slog of promoting one’s work. I think all indie authors can relate to that on some level. For me, the most important thing is not to get too hung up on sales, but just to continue writing.
‘My interest in writing all started when I attended a local creative writing class. It advertised itself as Creative Writing for Beginners. But as soon as I attended the first class I realised that the majority of the class had been attending for the past seven years. It made me wonder what it would take to graduate to the next level! Needless to say I didn’t find the class too productive, I’m afraid.
‘But a peculiar thing happened a few months later when I woke up one morning with a sentence in my head – On the banks of the Orinoco stands a lonely figure…
‘That sentence became the first line in my debut novel, The Shamanic Prophecy, which has now become a trilogy. The trilogy begins in a remote village in the Venezuelan rainforest, featuring a young tribesman tormented by his inner demons. One fateful morning he seeks an audience with the shaman, where he is told a dark secret about his childhood. This revelation spurs him into a dangerous quest to seek further answers to his past. ‘And what of my writing plans now? To be honest, I find myself a bit sad at having to say goodbye to characters who have been my friends for the past six years. But as a writer one has to be pragmatic and move on.
Website: http://heathshedlake.com
Sewing words together
‘My first book was titled Sewing with Sarah,’ writes subscriber SL Harbour.
‘It gave detailed descriptions and diagrams of how to make clothes – doll’s clothes. You won’t find it gathering dust in a forgotten bookseller’s shop. The book was never published. Neither did it seek favour with an agent, but then I was only eight years old.
‘From this tender age I saw my two passions, sewing and writing, divide as life got in the way. A few decades later they have been re-united.