Where do I begin the story of my decade of writing, revising, editing, pitching, sending inquiies, writing proposals–receiving rejections? I suppose it’s where every novel begins. At least it was what came to me first: the title, daybreak fom on high (Luke 1:78), found in the The Canticle of Zechariah at the birth of his son, John the Baptist.
The next step, by chance, but I believe by divine providence, was an ad in the local newspaper for a writing group, The Sussex County Bards. They recognized my inexperience, but kindly criticized and corrected my first attempt at writing a novel. Although not the genre any of them preferred, they expressed interest and encouraged me; three of them reading and critiquing the whole first draft.
The third step: During that time my mom came to live with us and I needed a schedule for her care, taking her out shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc. In order to write, I had to rise at five am every week day and immerse myself in writing for at least 2-3 hours, much of that time spent in researching. Scattered person that I was, this taught me disipline.
But looking back, I believe the one thing, I’ll call the fourth step, that kept me persevering was–my mother. As she and my husband sat watching the squirrels during breakfast she would say: She’s in there again. Tom, we’re going to be rich, referring to all the money we would derive from my writing. And as my sister told me, Mom extolled my abilities to her, not me, of course, in case I would become haughty. I realize now, it wasn’t the money, it was the approval of my mother that made me persevere those many years. I also realized the influence of a mother on her children, especially such a wonderful one, like mine. So mothers, encouage your children!
DJ Pasternak, Author 