First time author -4

Blog

I was feeling low on my written English and soon, I realized that I didn’t have a writing style like many of the established authors. Being new to this field, I was unaware of whom to contact.
I ran through my contact list and remembered an old friend from my Rotaract days. I called him immediately and told him my problem. Back in those days and again now, he had a ready solution. He introduced me to his newspaper’s editor, who had recently retired.

All subsequent events went past quickly. I was soon sitting face-to-face with the person who spent most of his life editing the morning edition.
He glanced through the manuscript and said to call him after a few days. When I met him again, he had pencil-marked the sentences with his corrections. The comments were all over the place. I thought that I have to kiss goodbye to my writing ambitions.
Slowly sipping his coffee, he said, “There are many corrections I have suggested. The good news is that the issues are uniform. It is the same mistake everywhere and hence easy to correct.” There was a long pause from both of us. I was not sure if I should feel good or sad. I waited for him to continue. “But the storyline is wonderful and I want you to see this through.” The smile on my face came back. “Don’t worry about the English; take care of the passive voice and remove the wordy sentences.”

I spent the next few weeks thinking, “How can I create a writing style? How can I polish my storyline?” ..to be continued.


Leave a comment

Comments