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I’ve been writing now for, oh wow has it been that long already? Well, suffice it to say a very long time, and along the way I’ve had my share of ups and downs. Like when early on I discovered something very odd about my story – when I asked myself if I’d ever put my kids through boarding school, the answer wasn’t an immediate and resounding, “no”. I hesitated, and thus set off a chain of events that led me to reach deeper within than I imagined possible for the answer.

Surprisingly, writing is only a small fraction of the work that actually goes into a book. There’s editing, rewriting, critiquing, more rewriting, and over time the changes become smaller and smaller until, at last, you end up with the “Ah Ha!” moment – the “finished” book in hand. Normally this is the time an author sets his sights on getting an agent to find a publisher to get the book on the market. And that’s not to mention the marketing angle – the platform. A smart author doesn’t just assume these things will happen by themselves – he will actively seek out ways to make them happen, my variation on what fellow author James A. Owen has reminded me of over the past year.

In my journey I’ve been humbled by those whom I thought wouldn’t care but did, angered by those I thought would care but didn’t, confounded by those who suggested anything was possible if I simply chose it to be so, and indebted to those who made me see the light, so to speak, whether I wanted to or not. I am a firm believer in the saying actions speak louder than words, but over time I’ve learned not to be so absolute in my interpretation, so I’ve sometimes had to bend the rules in order to see the light, and in doing so surprised myself at how far I’ve gone to turn what would otherwise be mere words into actionable items. I’d love to say, “damn, I’m good,” but I suspect this is something most people get. For me it may be a sign of a maturing mind perhaps, or peace, or confidence.

I recently wrote a piece called, “Everything Happens for a Reason,” and I think that’s very true. Most of the setbacks I “suffered” turned out to be beneficial one way or another in the end. For example, I thought I was ready for prime time back in 2009, and I sent out three query letters with my hopes set on the middle one. The first agent ignored my query completely, probably because I sent fifty (that’s 50) pages to his inbox when he requested only five. The second one – the fellow I thought was a sure thing, visited my website seventeen times but never contacted me. The third agent actually sent me a personal response, and while that was just a small collection of words, they were words I was able to turn into action.

It’s now two years later nearly to the day, and just when I thought I was all set to try again, along comes a fellow named Jerry Waxler of the Memory Writers Network. We’d been discussing my book when, out of the blue, he said, “If your title ‘The Troubles’ had a double entendre meaning of the troubles in Ireland and the troubles between you and your brother, I would want to read it.” As soon as I read that I felt a bolt of energy blast through me, and I realized I’d experienced more than a mere “Ah ha!” moment. Everything suddenly came into perfect focus, and for a half-blind writer with a wonky eye, that’s some trick.

There are some things in life we fight with, and sometimes we win. Other times we give up and tell ourselves it was not meant to be. In this case, nothing has ever before felt so meant to be.