I'm a Nebraskan at heart, and as I'm sitting here working on Sandhill Dreams -- set in, you guessed it, Nebraska -- I was doing some quick research on Nebraska authors to make sure their books were in print in 1943.
As I did that I ran across this quote from Bess Streeter Aldrich. Some of you may have read her books including A Lantern in Her Hand (truly one of the great prairie stories). Anyway, the author notes at the beginning contained the following quote that I thought you might enjoy.
"A Lantern in Her Hand" was written to please no one but my own consciousness of the character of many of those pioneer mothers. It was written in the so-called "mad twenties" when most of the best-selling books were about sophistication, flaming youth, or far-flung countries. There was some youth in it, but not of the flaming type. There was no sophistication, for Abbie Deal was of the soil. There was not even diversity of scene, for Abbie was only a homemaker. "Lantern" seemed destined to be lost in the wave of the popular type of the times. That it has made new friends each year since that day might be a bit of a lesson for young writers. Regardless of the popular literary trend of the times, write the thing which lies close to your heart.
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500521h.html#e01
So as we all chase after the dreams God has placed in each of us to write, don't chase the market so much that you lose the story. We were talking a bit about that today at the Indiana chapter meeting. Yes, we need to know the market. But even more we need to be obedient to tell the story God gives us. And just maybe some of us will write something timeless that is still read 80+ years later.
Cara C. Putman
Canteen Dreams -- October 2007; Sandhill Dreams -- May 2008 and Captive
Dreams -- September 2008 (Heartsong Presents) Deadly Exposure -- June
2008 (LI Suspense)
The Law, Life & Books: http://carasmusings.blogspot.com/
Original Writer for Jake Tremaine at Scenes & Beans: http://kannerlake.blogspot.com/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment