December 20, 2002
Writers' grit sustains them on long road to publication
by Pari Noskin Taichert
COMMENTARY
A few years ago, after my 50th rejection letter, I started wondering why novelists bother to write. After all, the industry is competitive beyond belief, and advances are often microscopic. What keeps writers writing?
Beyond the biological need many writers experience - the reality that not writing would turn them into psychopaths - it's the promise of publication, of being acknowledged and sharing their vision with someone beyond their mother or Labrador retriever.
Recently, I spoke with three New Mexico authors whose novels have been published in the last two years. From big New York houses to a small publisher in Los Angeles, these authors' experiences offer insight into the process of turning their ideas and dreams into the sheets of paper that ultimately end up as books for others to read.
Jonathan Miller's "Rattlesnake Lawyer" was published in June 2000 by Cool Titles, a small publisher based in Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, Miller's book proposal, then titled "Watch for Rattlesnakes," was optioned by Viacom; he even got paid for it.
"Unfortunately, the book was never published, despite a few close calls," says Miller, an Albuquerque resident.
Rather than burying his head in the sand, Miller took action. "I went out to L.A., got a master's in writing, and did a total rewrite and finally convinced a small press to publish it."
Industry bigwig Houghton Mifflin produced Carolee Dean's young adult novel, "Comfort," in March of this year. The novel already has gone into a second printing - this is a big deal; many novels never sell out of their first run - and it has been nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association.
When asked how long it took to get her book published, the Albuquerque author says: "It took me 40 years. I count it all. I had two editors interested in `Comfort' at the same time, and that's how I got my agent. Then it ended up that neither of the editors wanted the book."
This year has been exceptional for Taos author Sean Murphy. His first nonfiction book, "One Bird, One Stone: 108 American Zen Stories," was published by St. Martin's Press in April. Six months later, Bantam Dell published his first novel, "The Hope Valley Hubcap King."
Murphy says, "I worked on the `Hubcap King' for 15 years." The book won the Hemingway Award while still in manuscript form in 1999.
"The agent who came with the award asked whether I had any ideas for nonfiction books, as nonfiction is easier to sell than fiction." Within a month of submitting the proposal for "One Bird," it had sold.
"I'd sold the book I hadn't written, but hadn't yet sold the book I had written," he says.
The thread through these three stories is determination, though at times, the prospect of publication may have seemed bleak. So, now, what's the best thing about having their books in print?
Miller quips, "I made T-shirts with my book's cover, and it was cool seeing someone wearing my T-shirts."
OK, OK, let's get serious here.
"People realize I'm more than a dreamer and a schemer," Dean says.
Murphy echoes this sentiment. "It's real!" he says. "There's a certain authenticity that comes with having it in print . . . people don't roll their eyes anymore when you say you're working on your novel. They take it seriously."
And Murphy's "Hubcap King" is being taken very seriously indeed. It was just named to the American Booksellers Association BookSense 76 list for January/February 2003.
But how do novelists find the fortitude to spend years on their books, years often fraught with horrid rejections and nasty blows to their egos?
Perhaps Dean sums it up best when she says: "Writers write because it's how we make sense of the world. Writers write so we have the opportunity to explore our experiences, thoughts and dreams, and to create brave new worlds. Sometimes, in the process of doing that, we create something that has value to others as well."
BOOK SIGNINGS Jonathan Miller: 7 tonight. Hastings Books, Music & Video, 1630 Rio Rancho Blvd. S.E., Rio Rancho. Free. 892-3844.
Sean Murphy: With Natalie Goldberg. 7 tonight. Mabel Dodge House, 240 Morada Lane, Taos. Free. (505) 751-9686.
Pari Noskin Taichert is an Albuquerque writer. Her column appears the third Friday of each month. Reach her at www.badgirlspress.com or pari(at)badgirlspress.com.
