Blog # 1: I am Ray Atkins, and I am a Writer

My name is Ray Atkins, and I am a writer. I have published two novels—The Front Porch Prophet and Sorrow Wood—and I am currently shopping for a publisher for my third book, entitled Camp Redemption. I have just begun writing my fourth novel, which will also serve as my capstone. The best part of it so far is the title—Sweetwater Blues—but once I get the voice established and a few character issues ironed out, I believe it will be a good story. I hope to finish it by the end of September.

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a writer, so I guess it is sort of ironic that I came to serious writing later in life rather than earlier. Living the writer’s life was my dream, but there was always a reason why I had to wait until next year to get started. I got married, my wife went to college, I went to college, we had some kids, we had to feed those kids, those kids grew up and had to go to college, and so on and so forth.

I suppose the lesson I learned during this period of time—also known as my life—is that there will always be a reason to not write, but if you want to be a writer, you should push past the distractions and sit down somewhere once every day and begin to write. One measly page per day equals one novel per year. If you wait for the ideal conditions to write, like I did for a lot of years, you may be waiting a long time. That’s the difference between being a writer and being someone who likes the idea of writing. A writer writes.

If I had followed my own advice earlier, I would be starting on book number forty instead of book number four. I would be rich and famous, and I would be writing this from the deck of my yacht. Sigh.

I began writing my first book when I was in my mid-forties, and after several false starts and re-writes, I finally saw it through to publication in 2008, when I was fifty-two. I received eighty-nine rejections before finding a publisher. People often ask me why I published my book with Medallion Press, an independent press headquartered in Chicago. I tell them the truth. I was all the way down to the M’s on my list of publishing houses before someone finally said yes. They went on to publish my second book the following year.

I am sharing this last anecdote because discouragement is the constant companion of a writer, but you can not give in to it. If I had become discouraged around rejection number fifty or so, I never would have experienced the amazing feeling of pride that came with seeing my work in print.

I am Ray Atkins, and I am a writer.