A Driving Force
Tamara Shepherd December 18, 2006
My first novel, Evan,
The Warrior of Nod was an explosive idea that I carried in my mind. I can still feel the urgency to get all of the details down on paper. Although a few months previous to this experience I found my husband and family becoming my audience for the whole story line. Once I started to write, it was as if I was being pulled into a whole new world and I suppose in a sense I was. It took me three months to write my story; of course that was working from dawn to burning midnight oil. My husband was the big benefactor in the completion of my work. He insisted that I focus on my novel while he take care of our three children. Well when August of 2004 rolled around, college was due to start. I was enrolled for the Nursing program and had only one week to submit my work to as many publishers as I could. You could only imagine how hectic this particular week was. I managed to gather up quite a few. Following all of the publishers guidelines for submissions I sent them all out. Within a few weeks I had gotten back a response of around half of what I had submitted. They gave me the, “We appreciate your interest....Unfortunately, this is just not what we are looking for” speech. Then the following day I received an acceptance to publish my work. Needless to say this was the greatest moment of my writing career.
Now, I have written and published the second book in Evans Series,
Evan and the City of Eliquo. This one was a bit harder for me. My life was going down hill, with my college on hold and my husband off work due to a severe injury, our family was in a world of financial difficulties. After my father was diagnosed with bladder cancer and had almost died after the operation, my mother became very ill. That left me having to take care of my live-in mother-in-law and my mother. But, some how found a few times a week to sit down and add to the story. With God's help and much encouragement from friends I finally completed my second book. My brother became so addicted to the story line that he kept asking me where the second book was, this was the funny part to all of the madness that I felt.
All of my work is geared toward fiction. Evans Series, is a great read for young adults starting with the age of 10 and up. I am currently working on an inspirational fiction and hope to have it finished within the year.
My advice to someone who loves to write and wishes to have their work published would be to never give up. Do not give up. Never let anyone tell you that you cannot do it. You poured your heart and soul out each time you sat down to write and you want someone to be able to read your inspirational work(s), so keep trying. You should feel sorry for the publishers who turn you down, after all they could be passing up the opportunity to publish a fantastic piece of literature. Plus, edit your work; not just once, not twice, but as many times as deemed necessary to ensure that your work is error free. This will ensure that once you do submit to a publisher they will be reviewing your best work and believe it or not that makes them think twice about giving out a rejection.
About Tamara Shepherd
Tamara Shepherd grew up in a country home a few miles shy of Piqua, Ohio. She truly loved her country lifestyle where she had plenty of inspiration for art. As she grew older, Tamara's expressions on canvas grew to writing literature. She now has three published works and continues to pursue her love for the noble art of expression.
Tamara Shepherd Profile at OnceWritten.com
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