Michael E. Riley's Blog
February 14, 2021
Never too late to start writing!!!
I just had my first book published. I’m 71 years old, and the book's premise came to me about six years ago. At that time, I wrote one chapter, lost interest, and filed it in my documents. Over a year ago, I started writing again with serious intent. What inspired me was the birth of our first granddaughter. We have all boys in the family, so when she was born, it was special.
I didn’t know how to write a book. Yeah, I could write a story on paper, but that was far from being a book. Although I’m technologically challenged, I was able to find many articles on my wife’s laptop about writing. I had a pretty good premise in mind, but one of the articles about writing a screenplay caught my eye. Now I didn’t want to write a screenplay, but I figured I could use some of the advice to write a book. It said something to the effect, if you want to be successful, you have to leave the audience laughing in the aisles, crying in the aisles, cheering in the aisles, singing in the aisles, and put a dog in the story. So I did.
I started writing practically every night, and in about four months, I had a 112,000-word first draft. I said to myself, "man, that was easy."
Let me explain about being technologically challenged. I still have a flip phone; I do not have a Facebook, Twitter, or any other such accounts. Now I realize this may all change with the marketing of my book, "The Long Last Out," but for some reason, these things never interested me. I’m not even sure that I’m writing this blog correctly, but I figure if it’s not right, somebody will tell me about it.
I like to hike and bike in local parks, and the one thing that would astound me was observing people walking in the park on a beautiful sunny day, and instead of enjoying the natural wonders, they would be walking and looking down at a cell phone. Hey, I’m not criticizing. "To each their own."
Getting back to the progression of the manuscript. So now, after four months, I have this huge file in front of me, and of course, I think it’s a masterpiece. I figure I have to get some second opinions, and I send the first draft to family and friends. They all come back to me and tell me it’s the most incredible book in the world, but then I get to thinking, "Hey, they’re not going to badmouth my book; nobody wants to rain on somebody’s parade."
Now I don’t know what to do, but as luck would have it, I met with a professional editor who happens to work for one of the top book publishers, and long story short, he agrees to take a look at the manuscript on the side.
I asked him to be truthful with me. I said to him, “if it’s junk, tell me. I don’t want to waste my time on junk.” He takes about a month and comes back to me with his professional opinion. He tells me the story was very engaging, and the premise was unique. Still, the formatting, punctuation, and some content, mainly “show vs. tell,” needed major editing, not to mention he advised I had to get the word count down below 100,000 words. He advises me to get a copy of the "Chicago Manual of Style." So I send for the book, and I start editing. Well, I can only say that editing a book was a real adventure. After one year and almost going blind trying to read the manual, I came up with an edited version. I send a copy back to the editor. He reads it and sends me an e-mail telling me, “wow,” and he’s praising the work that I did. I'm thinking I might not be as dumb as I look. But then I start wondering that maybe he’s just blowing smoke. So I ask him straight out, he swears he’s sincere, and he asks if I have any thoughts about publishing. That’s a story for another blog.
So, in my opinion, it's never too late to get into writing. I'm not saying it was easy. It was challenging and took many hours to complete, but it was worth it. Like Henry Ford said, "Think you can, think you can't, either way, you're right."
Look, I'm not sure if I'm permitted to promote my book on this blog, but I'm just trying to get some feedback from people who love to read. "The Long Last Out" is the title. It's a police/detective/mystery with a unique premise. I think you'll enjoy it, but you can’t go by me. I wrote the book.
You'll have to judge it for yourself.
I didn’t know how to write a book. Yeah, I could write a story on paper, but that was far from being a book. Although I’m technologically challenged, I was able to find many articles on my wife’s laptop about writing. I had a pretty good premise in mind, but one of the articles about writing a screenplay caught my eye. Now I didn’t want to write a screenplay, but I figured I could use some of the advice to write a book. It said something to the effect, if you want to be successful, you have to leave the audience laughing in the aisles, crying in the aisles, cheering in the aisles, singing in the aisles, and put a dog in the story. So I did.
I started writing practically every night, and in about four months, I had a 112,000-word first draft. I said to myself, "man, that was easy."
Let me explain about being technologically challenged. I still have a flip phone; I do not have a Facebook, Twitter, or any other such accounts. Now I realize this may all change with the marketing of my book, "The Long Last Out," but for some reason, these things never interested me. I’m not even sure that I’m writing this blog correctly, but I figure if it’s not right, somebody will tell me about it.
I like to hike and bike in local parks, and the one thing that would astound me was observing people walking in the park on a beautiful sunny day, and instead of enjoying the natural wonders, they would be walking and looking down at a cell phone. Hey, I’m not criticizing. "To each their own."
Getting back to the progression of the manuscript. So now, after four months, I have this huge file in front of me, and of course, I think it’s a masterpiece. I figure I have to get some second opinions, and I send the first draft to family and friends. They all come back to me and tell me it’s the most incredible book in the world, but then I get to thinking, "Hey, they’re not going to badmouth my book; nobody wants to rain on somebody’s parade."
Now I don’t know what to do, but as luck would have it, I met with a professional editor who happens to work for one of the top book publishers, and long story short, he agrees to take a look at the manuscript on the side.
I asked him to be truthful with me. I said to him, “if it’s junk, tell me. I don’t want to waste my time on junk.” He takes about a month and comes back to me with his professional opinion. He tells me the story was very engaging, and the premise was unique. Still, the formatting, punctuation, and some content, mainly “show vs. tell,” needed major editing, not to mention he advised I had to get the word count down below 100,000 words. He advises me to get a copy of the "Chicago Manual of Style." So I send for the book, and I start editing. Well, I can only say that editing a book was a real adventure. After one year and almost going blind trying to read the manual, I came up with an edited version. I send a copy back to the editor. He reads it and sends me an e-mail telling me, “wow,” and he’s praising the work that I did. I'm thinking I might not be as dumb as I look. But then I start wondering that maybe he’s just blowing smoke. So I ask him straight out, he swears he’s sincere, and he asks if I have any thoughts about publishing. That’s a story for another blog.
So, in my opinion, it's never too late to get into writing. I'm not saying it was easy. It was challenging and took many hours to complete, but it was worth it. Like Henry Ford said, "Think you can, think you can't, either way, you're right."
Look, I'm not sure if I'm permitted to promote my book on this blog, but I'm just trying to get some feedback from people who love to read. "The Long Last Out" is the title. It's a police/detective/mystery with a unique premise. I think you'll enjoy it, but you can’t go by me. I wrote the book.
You'll have to judge it for yourself.
