It has almost become trite to remind everyone that you need to live and express thankfulness every day and not just at this time of the year.  As many do, I try, but to be honest, am only mildly successful.  I am also thankful for many of the same things as others:  a loving spouse, health, family, grandchildren etc. etc.  So I won’t drone on about all those things.

I want to express my thankfulness for all the things the writer’s life has brought me this year.  In my quest to market my book the old fashioned way I have and not relied on the “social media”.  In March I was honored to make a presentation at local independent bookstore Mystery to Me on Saint Patrick’s Day.  Following my presentation we shared Irish tea, cookies and a bit of Jameson with those attending.  Speaking on Saint Patrick’s Day about a historical fiction book on The Troubles was a special treat for me.

I attended the Oshkosh Irish Fest and had the joy of having an author friend from Madison drive to Oshkosh to support me and have lunch.  I met many at that event and one in particular has become very special.  I met a woman who is a fourth grade teacher.  She wondered if I would be interested in helping her teach writing narrative to her class.  I jumped at the opportunity and have learned first-hand the work it takes to teach.  We’ve taught classes on story turning small moments into a story, story characters, and plot development.

Our community started a low power radio station and needed volunteers to produce radio programs.  I developed two programs.  One is a live call-in interview show called Writing In Wisconsin.  I interview Wisconsin authors, publishers, musicians, composers and playwrights.  I also broadcast a Book Club on the Air and we discuss a different book each month.

I’ve also presented at the local senior center.  That presentation was recorded and replayed by the local public cable program.  I’ve spoken at the Public Library, the Rotary Club; a Pub in Columbus and in December will speak at the coffee shop.  I’ve also been the guest author for the Sun Prairie Literary Society book club.  I also spent an evening at a Waupaca B & B, the Crystal River Inn where I presented and shared an Irish meal with everyone.

The writing life is about so much more than writing.  The writing life offers the opportunity to meet a variety of people and lead to doors opening for new activities such as teaching fourth graders narrative. I love the writing life, it fulfills me.    

I met a person at the Irish Fest who was interested in writing.  She also wanted to buy both my books but didn’t have the money.  I asked her to fill out an order form and then mail me a check.  Weeks went by and I didn’t receive the order form back and forgot about the experience.

About six weeks later I received the order form and a check.  She apologized because the form was folded in her jacket pocket and she forgot about it.  The next day I mailed her my books and included hand written notes that if she ever wanted help to contact me at my e-mail address.  Again, I thought that experience was ended.

Several weeks later I received a draft book review for Murphy’s Troubles.  It was a well written, thorough review and invited her to post it on Amazon.  Within a few days I received another e-mail explaining she was a 4th grade teacher in Little Chute Wisconsin.  She was planning on teaching a unit on writing and wanted to know if I would be willing to meet with her class through Skype.

WOW!  There is a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I jumped at the chance.  She and another teacher co-teach and she said she wanted approval from her teaching partner.  The partner was in favor of the experiment.

We set up a time to agree on curriculum and spent about 30 minutes on Skype planning our first class.  The objective for the first class was to teach students to think of a small moment from recent experiences and use that to begin a story.  Before our Skype planning session I met with a friend who is a retired 5th grade teacher.  He gave me a lot of pointers and suggested that I ask for samples of other writing the class had completed and ask what books they were reading.  In the Skype planning session the teachers were impressed with my questions and I confessed I had a little help from a friend.  

A week ago Monday we had our first 40 minute lesson via Skype.  The class includes 23 students with a wide range of abilities and talents.  The camera was set up so that I could view the whole class.  I don’t know for sure but I’m guessing I looked like a talking head.  To talk with me each student had to come to the front of the room and use a hand held microphone.  When the camera clicked on there was pandemonium with waving hands, laughing, smiling and screaming “Hello Mr. Owens”. 

I had the students share with me their single moments.  The teachers then had the students write about their moments in two or three sentences.  Students then volunteered to read to me what they wrote.  The final step was to take what they had written and turn it into fiction.  I suggested they think of their moment and then ask: “what if”.  I went down the water slide, what if I plunged into the pool and couldn’t swim to the surface?  As the class ended the students were transforming their single moment into a story.

What a thrill it was to watch the students learn the basics of writing fiction, one small step at a time.  That afternoon the teachers sent me an e-mail saying the class was AWESOME!  They gave me their schedule for the rest of the writing unit and invited to me come to any or all of the classes.  Several of the classes were just for review so I skipped those.  I’ll be helping out with the lessons on creating characters and on plot.

Once again, the writing life has provided me with opportunities and experiences I never could have imagined.  Next week I’ll share with you how the class on creating characters.        

When my second book, Out of Darkness, was published in June I decided to devote the remainder of the year to promoting both my novels, primarily though author events.  It has been a whirlwind.  When December rolls by I will have had an author event every two weeks.  Since June we have traveled to Door County, LaCrosse, Fort Worth, Oshkosh, Wichita, Waupaca (twice), Chicago and Milwaukee from July-Oct.  All of the experiences have been fun, educational and sales have been robust. 

I am tired.  I need to return to writing.  During my travels I’ve decided that the Murphy Series will be a trilogy and I know what the theme and general story arc will be for the third novel.  I have written the first chapter in my head and need to have the full arc of the story in my mind in order to begin Chapter One.

Once I was eager to begin writing novel #3 in November.  Now, I know I need to have more space – more time.  I need to create an emptiness that I can then have room to write.  I’m not sure when that will be.  I have confidence that it will come when it wants to come.  And when it does come – it will be a tsunami of creativity.

With my second novel I floundered for months to select a story I wanted to write.  For the third novel I know what I want to write and that is a relief and a joy.  However, Ian Padraic Murphy’s story will end with the third novel.  From my experience at the 2015 Irish Book and Music Celebration, I have an idea for my fourth novel, which will also be historical fiction.  I plan to write about the late 1500’s and take the opportunity to have a female protagonist.  Writing a female protagonist will allow me to grow as a writer and provide an opportunity to showcase the role of women in Celtic society/culture.

Let the writing begin . . . 

Several weeks ago I had an author event at the Crystal River Inn in Waupaca, Wisconsin.  One of those attending was a young Irish woman who married an American and had immigrated to the United States in January.  She told me an incredible story about how my first novel, Murphy’s Troubles, changed her life.

There is a scene in the novel that takes place in a bookshop in Blessington, Ireland.  I selected Blessington first because I loved the name.  For the story plot I needed to have Ian Murphy have a meeting in an out of the way place that no one would notice.  I thought it would be appropriate to have an author visit a local book store and research proved there is in fact ‘The Blessington Book Store’.  Continuing my research it was the perfect location for the scene.

The young woman was reading my book and was shocked and excited when she read the scene in Blessington.  As it turns out she grew up in Blessington and was very familiar with what she called their “quirky” book store.  She told her husband about the scene and had him read it to prove that she wasn’t making it up.

Having left Ireland a few months before the young Irish woman was homesick and feeling uncertain about her choice to immigrate to America.  Reading the scene in my book, written by an American author, was a sign to her that she had made the right decision to move.

Six degrees of freedom?  Coincidence?  How likely is it that a scene in my book would influence the life of a young woman from Ireland?  I don’t know.  When she told me her story the hair rose on the back of my neck.