Saturday, November 17, 2007

Everyone has a story

Just as I love playing with words, I also love stories; those that are written as well as ones told to me. Yesterday when I was riding to the Houston International Airport after the Texas Gifted and Talented conference, I heard my driver's story. Born in South Africa, educated in Great Britain, and now a 20+ year-resident of Houston, my driver had a degree in mass communications and was also a computer analyst. When I asked him why he was driving a shuttle he laughed and said that everyone asked him that! He explained that he was the owner of the SuperShuttle franchise in Houston and this job allowed him to be home with his family and be more involved with his children than his previous employment. He was delighted to find out I was an author because when I asked him what his dream job would be he answered, "I'd be a writer!" He has two novels written and is working on his third. Afraid to send his work out for fear that it would be stolen (a common fear, but rare occurrence), his books have remained private and unpublished. I encouraged him to find a local critique group, look at the publishers who publish work in the genre in which he is writing, and work on getting it out there!

These are key pieces of advice for any aspiring writer. To "birth" a piece of writing, writers must put time and energy into writing, revising, and perfecting it; risk the trauma of potential rejection, and then send it out into the world.

Everyone has a story. What's yours?

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