Today we welcome Densie Webb who likens writing a novel to
preparing Thanksgiving Dinner
Densie Webb (not Denise) has spent a
long career as a freelance nonfiction writer and editor. Her debut novel
“You’ll Be Thinking of Me” was released by Soul Mate Publishing in January 2015. She
is an avid walker (not of the dead variety), drinks too much coffee and has a
small “devil dog” that keeps her on her toes. She is currently working on a
second novel.
So, Densie, why preparing Thanksgiving Dinner?
When
my debut novel, “You’ll
Be Thinking of Me,” came out in January, I spotted a
common theme among the comments I received: “I couldn’t put it down. A real
page-turner. I read it in two days.” That’s a good thing, right? No, it’s a great thing. But there’s also this thing:
It took me five years from first sitting down at the computer to my publication
date—five years of climbing the learning curve of writing fiction, researching,
writing, rewriting, editing, and submitting to agents and publishers.
Let
that one soak in for a moment. Five years
vs. two days. That’s when it hit me: Writing a novel is akin to preparing Thanksgiving
dinner. Each year, on the 4th Thursday of November, the majority of
Americans sit down to “give thanks for the blessing
of the harvest.” At least that’s what Wikipedia says. Whatever the symbolism
behind the traditional Thanksgiving meal, the ingrained image is that of a
Norman Rockwell painting in which the family savors the once-a-year feast
together.
I’ve noticed, however, there are no Rockwell paintings depicting
the long hours logged in the kitchen in front of a hot stove, getting the
ingredients and timing just right as you make sure the pumpkin pies are chilled
by the time the meal is done and the dressing isn’t dry or the turkey
undercooked. Neither are there depictions of the grocery lists or last-minute
return trips when you’ve forgotten that one essential ingredient.
And that’s where my writing analogy comes in. Anyone who has
ever prepared, served and cleaned up after a traditional Thanksgiving meal will
attest to the planning, labor, skill, patience and the hours it takes to get it
right. And that feeling of “is that it?” when the meal is scarfed down in
twenty minutes flat. While I’m thrilled beyond words that readers have found my
novel “unputdownable,” I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get the same “is that
it?” feeling when I heard it was being gulped down in two days.
Then there’s the cleanup. The turkey carcass is waiting to be picked
over and the leftovers bagged and frozen. That’s when you realize you don’t
have enough storage containers and there’s not enough space in the refrigerator
anyway. The dirty dishes are waiting to be washed by hand because you used the good
china, and the pots and pan have remnants of gooey tradition stuck on the
bottom. I liken this phase to promoting your book. It may feel like all the
hard work is done, but it’s just beginning. You have to clear your mind and
your desk, roll up your sleeves and put everything in its place so you can
post, blog, tweet, and advertise in the hope of reaching more prose-hungry people.
Is it all worth it? It must be, because I’m already planning for
the next “Thanksgiving feast.”
A wonderful analogy, Densie. Good luck with You’ll Be Thinking of Me and with the next Thanksgiving feast.
The RNA Blog is brought to you by:
Elaine Everest and Natalie Kleinman.
If you would like to appear on the Blog please contact us at
elaineeverest@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment