Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Behind the Story, by Paula Rose Michelson

One of the topics I love to speak about is "The Creative Process." Now with my third Naomi novel, Book One, Beginning Anew of The Naomi Chronicles due to release this November, I've decided to share my journey from deciding what to write to yielding complete control. If you know me, you know that it its always easy for me to do as told. Yet, I know when you read this true account, you'll see that when the blessing was there, I joyfully said, "Yes!" But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So beginning at the beginning, which is always the best place to begin, I must share that I had always been told I could weave a great yarn. In fact, there were many times when while telling about something that really happened, listeners, even family members, and those I worked with and for asked me if I was making the story up. Thin-skinned, I didn't take that as a complement at all.

While in school, I was often told that my writing was good, but my spelling and punctuation horrid! The semester that each student had to write their autobiography was torture for me because at fourteen, I could not think of anything to say that wasn't a big snooze! Every day when I returned home from school, my mom prodded me to sit at the new Remington I'd been given for Hanukkah and type my story. Talk about excruciating torture... this was it! Every page I typed was edited, retyped, and re-edited. With each page of corrections new errors occurred. Not only was any potential of creativity stifled, but I quickly learned that I wasn't going to.....

About now...knowing that the next day, Friday, my autobiography was due, I jammed my desk chair under my bedroom door knob, pushed my desk over to my bed, sat down and began to type. I'd been listening to Frankie Laine sing "I Believe." This is the song that began my writers journey. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--j7wvtOi1s


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