The Broken Christmas Tree - Book

This is were The Broken Christmas Tree embarks and crosses the vast ocean of digital streams.

My book is nearly ready. I wonder how this book went from the creation in my mind, to the page, to a formatted novel, and how it will travel to the mind of another, a reader.

Will The Broken Christmas Tree actually travel to places I could never imagine?  Maybe it finds its way to small village in India where a family pulls together to make a living. Maybe it finds a way to a wall street executive’s home, where his boy is reading it intently as he drinks his hot cocoa.  Maybe it arrives as a gift from a daughter to her ailing mother in the hospital during the Christmas season.

I don’t know where the story of The Broken Christmas Tree will go or how it will happen.  I don’t know who will provide the wind to push it along through word of mouth. I have no idea how this story will end up but it’s got to start somewhere.

I can only envision it will float out into the waters, drift and then catch a current to spread across the web of digital networks reaching places unimaginable years ago.

Self-publishing has given a media for unknown writers to send out their voices, their thoughts, their stories. But having an online presence  such as a place like Amazon, isn’t enough.

I’ve seen books on Amazon with little to no reviews. I feel bad for those authors. I ask myself what happened. Why do their books sit there for no one to read?  I fear this scenario but I’m going to face this fear and stand in its wake.

I want the story, The Broken Christmas Tree,  to weigh anchor, to sail, to take a voyage in hopes many readers will enjoy the tale of a boy who’s desperately afraid his mother has given up on Christmas. The boy wants to make things right but is up against forces far beyond his own abilities. What will this boy do? Will he run, hide or face his fears?

I know this story well, I’ve worked through it many times over, I have lots of time constructing it, making sure its buoyant before it goes into the blue-ether but who will be the next to board the story of The Broken Christmas Tree?

Image Credit: travel by fdecomite

 

Copyright ©2014 DW Rigsby All Rights Reserved.

The Broken Christmas Tree, as mentioned before, was first a collection of real events in my childhood life.  Our family struggled, lived in dilapidated places such as one by the railroad tracks that had dirt floors where the wood flooring had all rotted out. There was no running water either as I recall taking showers outside when it rained.  This is only one example, I have several but I think you get the picture.

I saw how strong my mom was through those years of hardship and struggle.  I wanted to write something that would show her just how much I cared about her.  So, the Broken Christmas Tree was born.

Though as I wrote the Broken Christmas Tree it became apparent it was not a story at all so I turned to my creative side and fictionalized much of the story and its characters.  What the book was suppose to be isn’t what it is now.

During this process of changing the book into something creative for others to enjoy, my old friend’s name Cluster was used for one of the main characters in the book. Though this character is fictionalized I kept my friend’s name as the character with the permission of his family.

The story is based off one true event in my life – it was when I was twelve years old.  I wanted to do something special for my mom for Christmas and I got in my head to go out into the woods and bring home a real Christmas tree.  I couldn’t do it alone so I enlisted the help of my friend Cluster.

The Broken Christmas Tree isn’t just about this one event either – there is more to the story and you’ll see it once you’ve read it’s content.

As I wrote the Broken Christmas Tree it slowly became a way for me to honor my friend Cluster McGraw and how much I miss him. It became apparent in me that I was going back in time and visiting my friend through my writing and I enjoyed my time with him again.  It had been so long since the last time I really felt his presence but this book awakened myself to my lost friend.  Cluster, as many in my home town know, passed away when he was 18 year old.  I miss him, I miss our friendship we had growing up.  All those times running around in the hills of Southern Ohio I’ll never forget nor will I ever forget my friend Cluster.

I write this post and I’m not ashamed to say tears fill my eyes once again in remembrance of Cluster.  I want people to know why I wrote this book and how much it means to me.  This book being my first to be published book was not a plan but something that happened unexpectedly.

Image Credit: An American flag is prepared for presentation to the next of kin by Beverly & Pack

Copyright ©2014 DW Rigsby All Rights Reserved.

 

I started out writing the Broken Christmas Tree as sort of a love letter to my mom.  I wanted her to know how much she meant to me. I wanted her to see how I saw her through all our years of struggle.  So, I started with real events from my life and put those on paper. I wrote for several weeks, maybe a month or more until I finally reached nearly 80 pages.  I thought I was done with my book and it was ready to set sail.

I was wrong of course – after I handed over what I thought was my finest work ever to my wife, I could see the fear in her eyes as I handed her my manuscript.

After my wife brought my book back to me I could see she was nervous about telling me exactly how she felt.  So, I prodded her until I found out what was on her mind.  Her response was the book was not well written, there was no flow from one scene to the next and it appeared clunky.  Okay, I thought, my dreams were just crushed so now what?

I was defensive at first but all writers in my opinion are like that with their work. I got over it quickly as I knew what I had created was not what I had intended.

I’ve shorten much of my experience to get to the point so I won’t belabor anyone about all the boring details. I will say that my story changed direction, it took an unexpected turn and instead of the focus being on my mom and my love for her, specifically, it turned to an old friend of mine, Cluster McGraw.

Cluster and I had a great friendship growing up and I want to tell you more on my next blog. You should tune in as you are going to see a part of me I haven’t shared with many until I wrote The Broken Christmas Tree.

 

Image Credit: Direction by MK 23am.com

I looked into several editors but was unable to find someone I felt could do the job I was asking them to do.  I came across Create Space and they offer editing services. I looked into them and was surprised as to the requirements editors need to meet prior to being hired by Create Space.   Also the price was not bad compared to several others I’ve ventured to check out.

Creating a book is not that hard, one only needs to put down the words on the page. Creating a quality book is a different matter and that’s why I chose to sink some of my own hard earned money into this book so it would be of greater quality for the reader.  I’ve been through my own work several times, up into double digits.  My wife, Lydia, has also read a lot of my book and has provided excellent feedback for me.  I’ve taken her advice and feedback, rewrote the book and finally got to a point where I could no longer look at the pages. I was done, finished and careless with making changes – it was at this moment I knew it was time to let it go.

Now, it’s in the hands of a professional who I hope sees the hard work I’ve put into it, how I’ve tried to iron out the problems in the pages before letting an editor take a shot at it.  I want the most out of my editor, I don’t want them spending time on little things I knew I could fix . Spending the extra time before turning it over for edits was an investment and I hope the return is much greater.  I’m expected to receive my edits in late July and once I have those, its’ my turn to review, absorb the feedback and make choices on what to change.

Image credit: Pen and Writing  by Karen

Copyright ©2014 DW Rigsby All Rights Reserved.

The suspense is killing me, waiting for my little book to be born to the world. It feels like that you know, as if a child were ready to be born. I don’t know this to be entirely true as I adopted my two sons from Russia,  so no birthing experience to rely on.

I would say that the 9 months it took me to go from not being a dad to being a dad of two boys of ages 6 and 8 was a bit of surprise. I knew they were real, I saw their picture but it didn’t hit me until I saw them in person in the Director’s office where we waited to see them. The office was small, cramped, the chairs and desk looked aged along with the room itself.

Though when I saw my boys it really kicked in that I was a dad and so the shock followed.  I got over the shock.  Now, I wait for my book to be born, for it to arrive but it’s not happened yet. I know it’s real, I’ve touched its pages, seen the words but it has yet to transition to a real book ready for someone else to read.  When that happens I’ll realize I’m an author, a daddy of my very first book and so the shock will follow. I’ll get over the shock and see my little book grow up and go on its own to join all the other big books.

Image credit: dove blue corner by Emily StAubert

 

Copyright ©2014 DW Rigsby All Rights Reserved.