Can I Be an Author?

Those of you who know me, and the many more who have become acquainted through this humble blog and my equally humble book review site (http://bookandagarden.com), recognize me as someone who is content–no, happy–to connect people with wonderful books.  When a group of young readers exits the library with exclamations like “I got the best book!” (even if they have tested the patience of even this librarian), my day is complete.  And when I learn of a new and/or noteworthy title that sounds like a must-have, I wish it were in my hands right now so I could check it out and share it with my young patrons.  So why, you ask (as do I), would I think of being anything more?

It all started when a close relative (somewhat to my surprise, I’ll admit) suddenly came on the scene with two novels that she published independently online.  She asked me to proofread them for her and write reviews, and I was naturally happy to comply.  The budding author was so impressed with my work (as much as I was with hers!) that she began asking when I would start writing my own books.  At first I shied away from the prospect, but the more she asked, the more I began to think.  I even dug up a children’s story I once began as a write-your-own-ending class project–except now it needs an ending!  And there is a little corner of the world whose cultural history fascinates me.  Perhaps there is a story there waiting to be told?  (Serendipity strikes: once I purchased for my Nook an authoritative historical work concerning the ethnic group I am most interested in–at the same time period.)

So maybe now is the time to take the plunge–or at least test the waters.  I know that I don’t take rejection and criticism well (but then does anyone?), yet I can always remind myself what I tell others about the incomparable Dr. Seuss.  After penning his first children’s book (the magnificent And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street), at least twenty-four publishers rejected it before Random House finally accepted the story.  The rest is history.  (Think how many publishers began crying in their tea.)

Please don’t start looking for me on any best-seller lists.  I’ll probably never make it there.  But it might be interesting to see my (pen?) name on the cover of a book–if even I have to publish it online myself to get it there.