WRITING MY FIRST BOOK
My book began life in 1991 as an idea for a screenplay. At that time, I was struggling to understand the reason my uncle died from cancer at a much too early age. I was working as an actor at Universal Studios, Florida, and I had long breaks between performances, so I found a quiet spot and started typing on my very advanced (for the year 1991) word processor. You could read four lines on the little window of a screen it had, (roughly the size of an iPhone 4). There was no Microsoft Word: no fonts, no word wrap; nothing. I chose African-American characters for a number of reasons, the most prevalent being the many conversations I had had with my African-American friends about the total lack of quality roles available to black actors. I was going to solve that problem--with my screenplay. Or not.
No one wanted a screenplay about a fourth-generation black Baptist preacher who was struggling with the loss of his wife and son. My writing languished in that form for more than twenty-one years while I gave up on acting and returned to Erie, Pennsylvania and followed in my father’s footsteps as a union sheet metal worker. Then I contracted a rare infection wrapped around my spinal cord. It was called an epidural abscess, and I required life-saving surgery to clean it out. The top third of five of my vertebrae had to be removed so the doctors could get at the infection. That ended my career in sheet metal. I spent five months flat on my back, except for bathroom trips, and another six would pass while I watched every television show I ever wanted to see. I read books. All the while, the story I had written so long ago was on my mind.
I was constantly talking about writing my first novel, and one day my wife said to me, ‘If you want to be a writer, don’t you think you should write something?” I began writing my novel the very next day. I was nervous and struggled with confidence. Then I saw a Facebook post from a friend I had not talked to in years. Ray Flynt (this is his blog space), had posted about his fourth book coming out soon. I ordered, read, and was completely impressed with his writing, so I reached out to him through an e-mail. To my surprise, Ray enthusiastically agreed to help me any way he could. I sent him the prologue and the first two chapters of my first draft. Ray was kind and his criticism constructive. He relayed that he thought I was a good story-teller, but my writing mechanics needed some work.
Ray and I sent my work back and forth for the next month, and I learned that writing a book was even more difficult than I feared it would be. I had to re-learn high-school grammar and punctuation? Sheesh! I had a lot of help along the way to produce the novel I am proud of today. Six of my own edits (my wife helping), Beta-reader comments which led to more rewrites, wrestling with Grammarly (a subscription grammar program that piggybacks with Word), collaborating with a cover art designer, hiring a line editor Mary Jeddore Blakley (maryjeddoreblakley.com), and finally formatting the finished manuscript with Smashwords.com, CreateSpace.com, and Kindle. It has been one hell of a ride.
Now that you know the story of how “The Healing of Reverend James” came to be—I’d love to hear your story. Please leave a comment and share your pain and pleasure. Go ahead, throw down a few words. Who knows? It could be the beginning of a new book! May the words be with you.
Thomas John
A few words from Ray: Now that you've learned about Thomas' process in bringing his first book to life, go read it. THE HEALING OF REVEREND JAMES is an inspiring tale that you'll find yourself thinking about long after you've finished the book.
My book began life in 1991 as an idea for a screenplay. At that time, I was struggling to understand the reason my uncle died from cancer at a much too early age. I was working as an actor at Universal Studios, Florida, and I had long breaks between performances, so I found a quiet spot and started typing on my very advanced (for the year 1991) word processor. You could read four lines on the little window of a screen it had, (roughly the size of an iPhone 4). There was no Microsoft Word: no fonts, no word wrap; nothing. I chose African-American characters for a number of reasons, the most prevalent being the many conversations I had had with my African-American friends about the total lack of quality roles available to black actors. I was going to solve that problem--with my screenplay. Or not.
No one wanted a screenplay about a fourth-generation black Baptist preacher who was struggling with the loss of his wife and son. My writing languished in that form for more than twenty-one years while I gave up on acting and returned to Erie, Pennsylvania and followed in my father’s footsteps as a union sheet metal worker. Then I contracted a rare infection wrapped around my spinal cord. It was called an epidural abscess, and I required life-saving surgery to clean it out. The top third of five of my vertebrae had to be removed so the doctors could get at the infection. That ended my career in sheet metal. I spent five months flat on my back, except for bathroom trips, and another six would pass while I watched every television show I ever wanted to see. I read books. All the while, the story I had written so long ago was on my mind.
I was constantly talking about writing my first novel, and one day my wife said to me, ‘If you want to be a writer, don’t you think you should write something?” I began writing my novel the very next day. I was nervous and struggled with confidence. Then I saw a Facebook post from a friend I had not talked to in years. Ray Flynt (this is his blog space), had posted about his fourth book coming out soon. I ordered, read, and was completely impressed with his writing, so I reached out to him through an e-mail. To my surprise, Ray enthusiastically agreed to help me any way he could. I sent him the prologue and the first two chapters of my first draft. Ray was kind and his criticism constructive. He relayed that he thought I was a good story-teller, but my writing mechanics needed some work.
Ray and I sent my work back and forth for the next month, and I learned that writing a book was even more difficult than I feared it would be. I had to re-learn high-school grammar and punctuation? Sheesh! I had a lot of help along the way to produce the novel I am proud of today. Six of my own edits (my wife helping), Beta-reader comments which led to more rewrites, wrestling with Grammarly (a subscription grammar program that piggybacks with Word), collaborating with a cover art designer, hiring a line editor Mary Jeddore Blakley (maryjeddoreblakley.com), and finally formatting the finished manuscript with Smashwords.com, CreateSpace.com, and Kindle. It has been one hell of a ride.
Now that you know the story of how “The Healing of Reverend James” came to be—I’d love to hear your story. Please leave a comment and share your pain and pleasure. Go ahead, throw down a few words. Who knows? It could be the beginning of a new book! May the words be with you.
Thomas John
A few words from Ray: Now that you've learned about Thomas' process in bringing his first book to life, go read it. THE HEALING OF REVEREND JAMES is an inspiring tale that you'll find yourself thinking about long after you've finished the book.
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