My adventure started on the day I retired from my job. I was an educator for the Memphis City and Shelby County Schools. I felt really blessed to have had the opportunity to work with the students and educators in this system. I loved the rich history of Memphis, this city became the setting for my debut novel, A Level Playing Field.

Moving to Panama became the first step on my journey to becoming an author. I wanted someplace where I could just sit and write in peace. Here in the rain forest and highlands of this country, I found my perfect spot, Boquete, Panama. Where the coffee is the best in the world, and the panoramic views drop you to your knees.

Learning how to write

 I figured this would be the easy part. I wrote poems and short stories in high school. That was when I discovered writing helped quiet my spirit. Plus, I had my B.S.E. and M.Ed. Shoot, I wrote research papers and dissertations for six years. But when I sat down to write my novel, I drew a big fat blank.

 However, as every good teacher realizes, if you don’t know something, go research it. So, I signed up for an online writing course. There were so many to choose from, I followed my instincts and took the course taught by Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen. They wrote Chicken Soup for the Soul. It was very informative. I learned how to outline, what a plot was and how to develop one. I kept studying on my own and learned about character development among other interesting tidbits. But still, I couldn’t concentrate without getting distracted. It seemed every five minutes something popped-up online, my phone pinged, or the sounds of dogs barking outside, just about anything would do the trick. The first six months I didn’t accomplish much.

Thankfully, I heard about a writing group in town. It was a rather large group for Panama. All were retired expats from all over the western hemisphere. Some were published authors and some like me, just starting out. I would strongly recommend joining a writing group, if you are serious about your writing. If not in person, then online. This group was holding its first writing conference. A member at the time gave me the best advice I have had to this point.

“B.R., you just got to sit your butt down and write. Start with fifteen minutes a day, even if you are just outlining your ideas, anything just so you’re writing. When you got that time down without losing concentration, move it up another fifteen minutes until you can sit for an hour without getting distracted.” I did as he said and sat down and started writing. I have now finished two of three books in my current series The Beale Group, A fictional action-packed adventure. It took two years to finish my first manuscript.

 What should you write about

If you are going to write a novel, make sure it’s something that you are passionate about! Because, babe, you are going to be spending a lot of time with it. I can’t remember if someone said it or I read it. But the message got through, “If you see something that needs to be fixed, then address it and fix it in your writing.” I saw something that needed to be fixed and I addressed it. I chose to write about the unfair treatment of people of color and how to fix it, in a fictional world I built.

 Navigating the editing process

I did my best to self-edit using Microsoft Word. Now it was time to show my work to someone else. This, for me, was the hardest thing to do. It was like opening my heart and soul to a stranger. I chose to use independent contractors from Paper House and Fiverr, mainly because they fit into the budget for my first manuscript, which was very limited. At each level of editing, I found myself rereading the novel and correcting mistakes and adding new insight. This led to creating a new draft of the manuscript. My first novel had nine drafts.

The first two people to read my novel were beta readers. They read over my manuscript and let me know their first impressions of the story. It was pretty cool, because they wrote comments as they were reading the story that gave great insight. Also, they each did a line edit, to help correct grammatical mistakes. I corrected the errors and followed many of their suggestions creating my second and third drafts.

Next up was the developmental editor. He helped me with the big picture of the novel. The structure, form, plot, and characters. It made a difference. After following most of his suggestions and revising my manuscript yet again, my story really started to smooth out.

Then came the copyeditor. She was looking for consistency and accuracy. It helped give the novel its final shape. I remember I spelled one character, whose name was DeShawn three different ways though out the novel. She caught all that and other errors the other editors and I missed.

 Following that came the proofreading. The new fad with contractors is using AI, or artificial intelligence. To me it’s just another computer program. It may or may not understand what you are trying to say. In the chapters of my first novel where gang members are speaking in slang, the program changed all the dialog to the correct English form of the words. It made many other mistakes, like run-on sentences and forgetting quotation marks. This proofreader didn’t bother to check over what the program had done and just sent it back to me as complete. Needless to say, there were plenty of errors. The company refunded my money. I hired another proofreader and the same thing happened. From now on, I will request no AI will be used in the proofing of my work.

 The last step of the editing process is formatting. It shows how the book will appear in its final printed form, including such things as font, size, page color, page numbering, line spacing and paragraph breaks. Everything that goes into the visual appearance.

 I have a couple of passages in the manuscript, A Level Playing Field, in which God speaks, and his words appear in red lettering. My first Sunday school teacher taught me that in the bible, when God speaks, the words are represented with red letters. I thought the formatter would change those passages and make the words black, but she didn’t and I like how it looks.

Finally, I can honestly say the writing process thus far has been a great experience. I have really enjoyed learning how to become a writer. It has allowed me to build new worlds and write them in such a way, that others might find the opportunity to escape, at least for a little while.

I have learned that becoming an author is not for the faint of heart, but anything worth having is rarely easy. On this journey I have met so many people willing to help. I am a member of three writing groups. I believe you need to surround yourself with as many like minds as possible. Ask lots of questions, and give your honest opinion with helping in mind.