By Wade Rouse
I’m a
man who writes women’s fiction using his grandmother’s name, VIOLA
SHIPMAN as a
pen name. The picture to the left is me with my grandmother, Viola. Sounds like a terrible literary remake of Victor, Victoria, doesn’t it? Just imagine trying to sell your
literary agent on that idea, especially when you’ve spent your entire career
writing humorous memoir.
I
did, and that was five novels ago. The Summer Cottage is my latest, publishing April
23 from Graydon House Books (HarperCollins). I credit it all to being fearless
and to channeling the voice that calls to me when I write (be it funny or
serious, a man’s or woman’s).
In
fact, of the endless things I could teach and preach to writers, learning to
overcome fear to channel your true voice tops the list.
Fear is devastating to all of us in life, but especially an
author. Too often in our world today, we let fear consume us: It drives our
daily lives typically more so than passion. We worry about money. Time. Health.
Aging. Our parents. Our children. The future.
The same typically holds true in writing. In the beginning
stages, we worry about all the things over which we have no control: Whether
our writing is good enough, whether we'll make money at it, whether those we
love and know – and even those we don't – will like our work.
Awful things happen from head to hands, from brain to fingers to
laptop, when we let fear consume us as writers. When emerging authors begin a
book, they are driven by that unique voice that runs in their heads – the one
only they can hear, the one which drives all of us to tell our stories. But
before we fully channel that voice, it begins to be drowned out by the call of
fear.
I know because it's happened to me many times in my career. I
began my first book, America's Boy –
a memoir about the difficulty of growing up in the Missouri Ozarks but
surviving due to the love of family – as a novel. I started it as a memoir but
grew fearful of pretty much everything, including what my family and hometown
would think. I spent a year writing it as fiction, until someone I loved
accidentally read it (a nightmare for writers).
When I asked what they thought, the reply was, "If you had
dropped this on the street, and I had picked it up, I would never have known
you had written it. It sounds nothing like you."
I was stunned. But, in my heart, I knew they were right. On
Monday, Wade will appear with Part Two titled, “Fearless Writing.”
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WADE ROUSE is the internationally bestselling author of nine books, which have been
translated into nearly 20 languages. Wade chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, as a pen name to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire
his fiction. Wade’s
novels include The Charm Bracelet, a 2017 Michigan Notable Book of the
Year; The Hope Chest;
and The Recipe Box. NYT
bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank says of Wade and his latest novel, The Summer Cottage: “Every now and then a new voice in fiction
arrives to completely charm, entertain and remind us what matters. Viola
Shipman is that voice and The Summer
Cottage is that novel.” Wade's
books have been selected multiple times as Must-Reads by NBC’s Today Show,
featured in the New York Times and on
Chelsea Lately and chosen three times as Indie Next Picks by the
nation’s independent booksellers. His writing has appeared in a diverse range
of publications and media, including Coastal Living, Time, All
Things Considered, People, Good Housekeeping, Salon,
Forbes, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest and Publisher’s
Weekly. Wade earned his B.A. from Drury University and his master’s in
journalism from Northwestern University. He divides his time between Saugatuck,
Michigan, and Palm Springs, California, and is also an acclaimed writing
teacher who has mentored numerous students to become published authors.For more, please visit violashipman.com and
waderouse.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorviolashipman/ Instagram:
viola_shipman Twitter: @viola_shipman
