… and why I can’t, would make the title much too long. But it certainly needs to be said as I can’t give up. There are days I say – ‘in the whole scheme of my life – how important is it to write’. The answer is always – I can’t stop. The urge, the ideas and the need – combine to make it impossible to quit. I can accept if I write for myself (your loss romance readers – tongue in cheek) – so be it.
Just one idle moment starts me writing – giving an opinion – even if it’s only to a friend or relative. It’s surely an addiction – but it is a harmless addiction, only affecting me and no one else. It might also be my addiction that offers light relief from stress in other people’s lives. For a few hours I offer enjoyment, hope and happiness by escaping into another world. It is probably therapeutic for me as well.
Previously I wrote historical and the research had me spend endless days enthralled and fascinated. When I was younger I heard that Canada was a boring, passive country populated by nice, wonderful, happy people. I know this because some historians/writers said so. When I began researching I couldn’t believe our rich,exciting history and so my writing career started. From the Lost Lemon Mine Legend to Indian Massacres and on to Canada’s Civil War and even Billy Miner – a notorious train/bank robber who rivals Jesse James I was hooked.
Trying to capture these stories I have published three historical romances and have two written in rough draft. I can’t seem to complete those two as new ideas and new thoughts invade and push me to write yet further stories. I can’t give-up and I suggest to all writer’s – never give-up – even if you are writing for your own pleasure. So many great stories have been rejected for no fact – other than they have been rejected, not because they aren’t good. Writing and reading are all perception and opinion. It is never a fact.
In Paradise on the Horizon a religious group actually march naked across the cold, barren prairies of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They called themselves the ‘Sons of Freedom’. Is that boring or does it beg the question – why?
Mary M. Forbes - Author 