Writing When the Bloom Fades

This year most of the country is experiencing a terrible drought. (See Huffington Post.) Crops are blistering in fields, pastures yellowing to a crisp doneness. I look out my office window and see trees with leaves drooping, some falling to the ground. Sometimes our hopes and dreams can do the same thing. For one reason or another our blooms fade.

Having always been someone who looks on the bright side of things (optimistic) the idea of blooms fading in my life of writing is frightening to me. What’s going to happen will, and there’s nothing I can do about it (pessimistic) Well, I won’t have it. It’s true that in the past couple of years, I’ve had to face the fact that many physical duties I once took for granted are no longer possible. (reality)  While the writing urge has not faded, the will to continue to appear for book signings, speaking engagements and the like is wilting like the flowers outside my window during this horrible drought we’re facing here in Arkansas.

I feel like those tall purple flowers outside my bedroom window that are normally covered in butterflies. They’ve drooped their leaves in an effort to stay alive. I guess I’m drooping my leaves, that is cancelling some physical duties, in order to continue the mental (creative) sides of my writing career. Let the youngsters take over. They are eager and ready and quite capable.

Thankfully for writers like me, along has come a life saver and I’m gathering it into my arms like huge bouquets of roses. It’s called the Internet. There I’m reaching readers all over the world. Back List finally up on Kindle, some freebies behind me and lots of newly learned tasks to let everyone know where I and my books reside nowadays and I’m all set.

You know what else? Along have come some fantastic small publishers, both e book and print, to handle the chores of publishing, creating lovely covers and supplying print copies when needed. I speak now of The Wild Rose Press; SynergEbooks, Oak Tree Press,  Old American Press, to only name the few I’m involved with presently.

My writing career didn’t begin until I was halfway through life. Being optimistic, that is 50 years of age, and so I’ve had to produce blooms madly and wildly promote in every avenue. One man told me I must’ve worn the tires right down to the nubbin just promoting my nonfiction book, The Boston Mountains: Lost in the Ozarks. And I did. Every library, historical society, organization in four counties of the Boston Mountains saw me, some more than once during the summer of 2010 and sales were brisk. I’m happy to say that my publisher, Mark Stepp at Old American Publishing, now has the book up on Kindle and I can begin to promote it from the chair in my office.

So really, the purpose of this blog is to urge any writer or hopeful writer, no matter their age, to bloom as long as you can, and when your flowers begin to wilt, there is still a place for as long as those voice in your head continue to jabber stories you simply have to write.