I Always Wanted to be a Writer – (Spoiler Alert: Not True)

I Always Wanted to be a Writer – (Spoiler Alert: Not True)

Writing comes once we are ready.  

I didn’t know I wanted to be a writer at a young age. Into my 40s was when I started being ready.  

Before that, there were other things on my “to-do” list. To be one of the popular girls in high school. Finding happiness was a major focus. I wanted to survive the days when my babies cried endlessly (or at least felt that way). Becoming a knitting fashion designer and modeling filled a decade of my desires. Learning how to ride a motorcycle as well as taking classes toward becoming a journalist.  

Finally, though, writing fiction stared me in the face and I couldn’t look away.

I wanted to be a writer. To write a book, even being flippant about the next great American novel. Most of all, though, to get it published.

As reference, I wasn’t one of the popular girls in school, but I still had a blast.  I have found happiness at all stages of my life. My grown adult daughters were worth every minute as they grew, and we eventually laughed how sometimes taking five minutes locked in a bathroom was my saving grace. After over 350 designs in national magazines, I could silence that knitting passion. I discovered, though, modeling was fun but not the life it appeared to be. I became a street rider and loved my two motorcycles until bad drivers made me too nervous. And, in time, I found out being a journalist was a stomping ground for moving into fiction.

And when the writing began, my moment had arrived—a new passion in a long life of numerous passions.

But at 18, into my 20s and 30s and early 40s, I never thought much about writing. However, once I started putting words down, the realization hit hard all those prior experiences became an encyclopedia to access at will when I let my imagination move into creating stories.

But being a creative-minded person wanting to write fiction, I found I didn’t know barely enough. So, research became my new best friend.  And don’t we all need friends?

While doing research for a local history book, I devoured newspaper articles and library archive collections, dissected memories of local community members, and photographed old buildings for reference. It felt like the gift that just kept giving—anecdotes and events swirling around in my imagination.   

I’d like to believe with certainty no writers just dream up a scenario. A spark of an idea comes from something they either read, heard, or came upon by accident. That idea grows and expands and maybe even festers until said person does something about it. That’s how my writing evolved.

Local history provided me with those sparks of ideas to tell a story.  

In “Juniper and Anise,” it was the rumor of a woman bootlegger in a small farming village in 1929. In “Tilly Loves Johnny,” that spark came from learning about blind pigs (covert games of chance where free drinks were offered) during the Prohibition Era. For my latest historical novel, “She Wore a Hat in Prison,” my thoughts were ignited by a true event that happened in 1907, long before anyone had heard of a woman taking revenge by causing Mayhem on her husband. The act itself was as much horrific as intriguing but the woman who was booked for her crime was even more fascinating. Check out my author Facebook page at www.facebook.com/marioncornettauthor and tell me you can’t resist the smug look and slight smile on her face as she pondered five years in prison.

The idea of Bertha Boronda—the real person behind my fictional character—literally taking her own destiny into her hands haunted me for at least a year before a story started to evolve. But, at the same time, I couldn’t imagine a woman so unhappy and trapped, prison was the best or only way out of a bad situation. As I continued to research, I kept wondering why she didn’t walk away. As I started thinking along those lines, the story took shape.  

I couldn’t put words to paper fast enough. Those were some of the most blissful moments of feeling like a writer I ever experienced.  

Don’t get me wrong, it was hard work.  But the endorphins being released far outweighed the hours of researching in front of old microfilm reels, of sitting in front of a laptop as my buttocks grew numb, or of worrying about anything regarding the story after it was written.

My questions to you:

Can you pinpoint a moment in your life when you wanted to write a full-blown story and found you were all in? Not just the hook or the ending but the middle of the novel (in my opinion, the hardest part to write). Were you looking for something new to try out?  Had you been wanting to write for years but life’s distractions wormed their way into your precious time?  Did a spark of an idea keep picking away at your brain until you gave it proper due?  Was research part of the fun or drudgery?

Most importantly, when and what was your epiphany to become an author?    

—

In between hiking and taking long road trips, creative interests have always been front and center.  After years of designing knitted patterns for national magazines, writing motorcycle roadracing articles, and researching local history of a small agricultural village, three historical fiction novels are currently available (“Juniper and Anise,” “Tilly Loves Johnny,” and now “She Wore a Hat in Prison”).  With husband, Doug, life during these retirement years also revolves around family and friends.  Between five children and seven grandchildren, there’s a lot of visiting and great memories happening!

SHE WORE A HAT IN PRISON, Marion L. Cornett

The charge is Mayhem. Locals in the small village of Cedartown cry out for harsh judgment by finding her guilty of the horrific act and making her pay for her sins. How could a woman so egregiously harm her husband, especially one so admired as Narcisco Boronza? Zerelda Boronza is caught in the middle, between defending and saving herself.

BUY HERE

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: How To and Tips