A Writer's Perspective

There’s a moment in your life when you think about the big picture. When you think about what was it all about? Who am I? Why do I do the things I do?

I’m thinking that right now, standing in my front living room, looking at the east side wall, the bottom third torn out for a water issue we had. In my mind what I see are ashes – the exposed ribs of the house are burning, and the off yellow flat paint is peeling off in strips, the ceiling is collapsing, and the entire place is ablaze. The fire consumes every piece of timber, paper, fabric in the house, leaving only the smoldering cinder blocks, and the concrete slab tiled over with sixteen-inch squares of clay.

I see it, and I think – what is it about? What does it mean? I’m here standing, and the world keeps moving, and one day this will all be gone. I will be gone. Nothing I’ve done, or said, or worked for will be here – it will have all disappeared, and so I ask myself. What is it all about? I keep asking, and the answer never comes. You know what I mean. It never appears, not in full. I’ve gotten glimpses but not enough to make a sound decision, not enough to know what it was all about, not enough to tell whether I did the right thing in life or the wrong thing.

The last line spoke to me. Did I do right or did I do wrong? Who will judge me? Will my Savior look on me and see what is in my heart? Or will He see the corruption in my thoughts, the indecision, the times where I was weak, or the times I did wrong? I know I’ve done wrong. I know I’ve done right. Which one have I done the most? Sometimes I’m not sure. Is it every wrong will tear down a thousand rights? Is that true? Do I exaggerate? My mind is not my own at times. I know this. You know this of yourself. We both know yet we move forward, we try to be good people, and we are, most of the times.

So here I am wondering about my future when there is no future. My future will end in ash, and so will your future. What are we fighting about? What is it that consumes us day and night? Each with his or her vise. No one can tell me. I’ve searched the text, and I’ve found no answer. I have an idea. I have my faith. I have my Lord in Christ. I have what some know to be the resurrection – the covenant between God and Man. It says we are to have everlasting life.

Even as I stand here in my living room, pondering the world around me, pondering my life, pondering when all around me will turn to ash. And it will. I know there is a new place for me, but it’s far away, and the journey takes a lifetime for some, and for others, it’s only a blink.

These are my thoughts today. This is what I ponder. This is what I wonder about at times when the world around me seems pointless. I know it’s not, but at times it seems this way doesn’t it? I’ve fought the good fight, and I’m still fighting. I’ve not given up, for He has not given up on me.

I can see it around me. Not one standing structure, not one moving vehicle, not a person in sight. The world as we know will come to an end, just as your body will come to its end. Life here is finite, not infinite as the Lord has proclaimed.

My sons – you are what is best in me. My wife, you are what makes me my best. My bother you are the reason I rejoice in having a brother. My sister, you are the reason I am proud to be your brother. My mother, you are the reason for who I am. You never gave up on me, not before my birth, not after my birth. You stood by me, took care of me, feed me, clothed and sheltered me. You are the reason I have life. And this life I will fight the good fight, and I will fail at times, and I will succeed at times. I will pick up my worn body, my bruised ego, my eternal soul and I will move forward into the unknown.

As to my understanding of this world, I have no answer. All I can say is Love is what matters most and without Love what do we truly know?

 

Sincerely,

D.W. Rigsby

Writing is an endeavor. When I first started out, I thought I could write a book in six months and have it published. Boy, was I wrong. I had written a 400-page monstrosity for which I was unable to tame. The rewrite of those 400 pages was too much for my unskilled self. Now, after nearly ten years of working to improve upon the craft, I’ve finally arrived at a place I can create and publish my works. I’m grateful for the time spent each morning, each night, weekend afternoons. I am even more grateful when those who find my writings, read them, and thoroughly enjoy them. It’s what keeps me going.

It starts with your title, but more important, your cover. Yes, we all know what’s inside a book is what matters. I get it. Readers get it. Though if they can’t get past the front door of your beautifully written world it won’t matter. Use the power of IT, not the story IT, Information Technology.

I came across a website called 99designs.com. I was hesitant to use it, but I loved what it offered. I will tell you, users’ experiences may differ than my own.

I needed a cover – one better than the $500 I just spent on a cover for my book Inspectre. The original cover did not covey what I wanted – well it did, but I knew my readers would not like it. I don’t know how I knew; it was a gut feel, instinct I guess.

The beginning was frustrating, trying to learn how to work with the various artist at 99 Designs who would come from all over the world and enter into the contest I had created. You can make a direct contract as well, not just contests, if you’re interested, look up the site and services.

Once I got past my frustrations – well I was right as rain. What I loved was the ability to invite others through Facebook to judge the covers submitted.

The power of IT. It changed things for me because out of the new covers – the one which is the cover for Inspectre wasn’t the one I would have chosen. It was picked by people I knew, and I didn’t know.

Now I have a great cover. It’s easier for readers to get past the front door, and hopefully into the front room of my book. Please go to Amazon, and read the sample. Let me know what you think of the description while your there. I’d love to hear from you!

Inspectre

When I first started to write, back nearly eight years ago, I thought I could create a book and have it published in six months. I was right, I could, but the quality was lacking. My first novel as I went through it, didn’t make much sense and was all over the place. I tried in vain to write it over, and over, cutting at it like a surgeon hooped up on medications, severing all the parts into a mutilated mess. I went from a surgeon, to a mad doctor of words, and pages. I pieced my work together and it resembled a monster, held together with stitches, hacked scenes, and patched sentences. None of it worked. Horrified I put my first novel down and started on a new book.

This time it would be different, this time I’d write in a way it would make it easier to do the rewrite. So, I slowed my pace, thought it out, and kept the pages turning, writing the most boring words on this planet one could endure.  I again was horrified, there on the white sheets of digital pages were my thoughts, my words, and they bored the complete hell out of me. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong, couldn’t see clearly enough, so I did what other novelist often do – I turned to screen writing. It will be easier no doubt, I don’t have to come up with all those details and I see stories more like movies in my head anyway. I created my first screen play after toying with it for nearly a year – it was bad. Truly it was. The strange thing is, as an author,I tend to think what I’ve written is wonderful and the world is going to love it. It’s not until I come down out of the clouds do I realize what I’ve created is a travesty that no one should bear to see or read. Yet I entered a contest with my first screen play and well, didn’t even place, that was completely unexpected as I told myself. I had done a pretty good job, but deep down I didn’t and when I read the pages again I could see it was true.

Now, my perspective has changed over the many years of writing. I’ve found what I’ve been trying to do was going against what was really happening. I learned I was developing a relationship with the pages in front of me, the words, the sentences, the thought and structure. All of it had a relationship to me. Learning this gave me some pause, knowing that all relationships take time, all relationships have ups, they have downs, they even experience trying times. The relationships which last are by far the most precious in our lives.  Aren’t they? The struggles which are endured together often form the strongest bonds, and there begins something else – trust, but not just trust. reliance. A strong relationship can be relied upon, and the truth can be told without fear of severing this bond. Truth often allows us to live free of ourselves, and what the pages have told me over time is truth. Truth in what is on the page, it doesn’t hide my mistakes any longer, we are way past that point. My relationship with the page is strong, a bond which took many years, many troubling times, many thoughts of quitting.

I look back and wonder what if I had quit, gave up on forming this relationship with the page, forming my thoughts for others to see, what would I be like now? Well, I’d be without something close to my heart. I’m glad I didn’t give up, and I’m glad for the struggles which have formed this author’s relationship with the page.

Sincerely,

D.W. Rigsby

It has to do with everyday life, it lends itself to others, it gives us what we want and weighs on our minds.

I’m describing money.

I wrote an earlier post on this topic that didn’t quite convey what I meant.  So, here I am trying to sort it out.

Money meant a way out for me, it was the one thing that could change my life from what I remember as a  young boy.  Living in dilapidated houses, campers, with other people, taking showers in the rain, or the creek bed and getting my drinking water from an old well, were things I wanted to put in my past.  Not to mention going without food at times, or having my electric shutoff during the winter along with the gas to where I could see my own breath in the house.

Those were tough times and my mom did the best she could for us. Money was an issue in our home. We just didn’t have much of it.  What we did have met most of our needs, most of the time with help from friends and family but there were times our needs simply were not met at all.

Since that time, I’ve worked hard to move out into the world to earn a decent wage. It became a passion of mine.   I use to have this motto – “If I don’t know what I want to do for a living, I might as well earn as much as I can while I live.”  It’s not a bad motto and has worked for me these many years.

Time has passed now and I’ve spent over 20 years in telecommunications/data/internet technologies.  I like technology, it fascinates me as well as how we use it. Though I’ve found something more important to me – writing.

My mind has had a change in paradigm –  “Is having a high paying job I like, instead of a lower paying job I love, the best thing for me?”

It’s a question I ponder a lot these days. It’s because I’ve went from knowing how to survive with very little money to living with a good salary that supports my family.  I find at times I would like to write more, and make less but that’s not my reality yet.

It comes down to money. It really does. Money represents my time, my life’s energy so I must look around and to see where my life’s energy is going. I think my energy is going to good things, but is also spent on things I shouldn’t invest.

Things need to change for me – either I find a way to make more money off my writing or I find a way to reduce my living so once I begin to earn money from writing so I’ll be able to make my living.

I have a dilemma  with my writing, I do it for me. I write for myself, stories that interest me. I do try to weave into my stories unexpected scenarios and outcomes that I enjoy. I know there are writers who can write for the masses, I’m not sure I’m one of them.  It’s possible many readers will share in what I create but I won’t know until enough people have seen my work and have responded.

My only option is to keep writing and to write for me in hopes others will enjoy the worlds I create.  If that happens the money will follow.

For now I will give both my time and money for what I love to transform my life’s energy into something more meaningful to me. Maybe even the world might find what I do meaningful.

Image Credit: Money Cip by Shardayyyy

 

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