By Richard
Mabry, M.D.
For many
decades I practiced medicine, taught, wrote, doing my best to be a good person
at all of those, while not neglecting my family. Then, about the time of my anticipated
retirement from my position at the medical center, my wife of 40 years died. Needless
to say, it was devastating. As part of the healing process, I committed my
thoughts to paper, mainly as a personal catharsis. A friend, involved in a
grief ministry in another state, read them and urged me to publish my journal
as a book. Of course, I had no idea how to go about this. Finally, a
sympathetic editor at a Christian publishing house suggested I attend a
writer’s conference. My attendance gave me the background to rewrite, and
eventually get published, The Tender Scar.
Perhaps as important, though I didn’t realize it at the time, I was encouraged
by a couple of recognized authors to “try my hand at fiction.”
I figured
that would occupy my time during my retirement, so I accepted the challenge.
Unfortunately, it didn’t go well. I eventually wrote four novels over the next
four years, and for these I received forty rejections. Discouraged, I decided
to quit writing.
Nevertheless,
despite leaving the writing world behind, I continued to follow a number of
writing-related blogs, including that of Rachelle Gardner. She ran a contest
for the best first line, and (to my surprise), I won with the line, “Things
were going along just fine until the miracle fouled them up.” Through a series
of circumstances that I’m convinced were divinely ordained, she became my agent
and I resumed writing. It wasn’t long after that time that I got my first
fiction contract. Since then, I’ve had eighteen novels and novellas published.
All this after quitting writing. I wasn’t through—I just thought I was.
I’ve
just published the novella that sprang from that first line I dashed off so
long ago. I hadn’t planned on doing that, but the story kept growing in my
mind, giving rise eventually to the novella, Bitter Pill. It went through a bunch of revisions, but I think the
end result is pretty good. I hope you do, too.
What do
I take from all this? It’s pretty simple. You may become discouraged. You may
even be tempted to give up. You may—like me—say that you’re too old for all
this. But don’t quit. Don’t give up because you’re discouraged. You’re not
through yet.
Dr. Richard Mabry is a retired physician, now writing “medical mystery with heart.” His
novels have garnered critical acclaim and been finalists for ACFW’s Carol
Award, both the Romantic Times’
Inspirational Book of the Year and Reviewer’s Choice Awards, the Inspirational
Readers’ Choice, and the Selah Award. He is a member of the American Christian
Fiction Writers, the International Thriller Writers, and Novelists Inc. Bitter Pill is his latest novella.He
and his wife live in north Texas, where he writes, works on being the world’s
greatest grandfather, and strives to improve his golf game. You can learn more
about him at his website, and via his blog and Facebook page. He is also
interviewed in the May-June
issue of the Southern Writers Magazine.
No comments:
Post a Comment