I have been asked what transpired to lead me down an authoring path and if I had any tips for newcomers.
The answers to this question are actually more complex than one would normally anticipate. It turns out that the ensuing discussion is somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle, since the pieces cover many decades. I am hopeful that readers might enjoy reading some of the anecdotes that I have provided below. I believe there are some valuable lessons that I learnt, that might be helpful to others. What follows below is by no means all of the jigsaw pieces and every path to success might have several branches.
My earliest recollections were those related to learning how to read in primary school and my mother reading aloud to me before I even went to school. My first school reading lessons involved two children, a boy and a girl in a garden setting. The book was quite aptly entitled "Through the Garden Gate". We would form a queue in front of our teacher's desk and we would each be given a turn to read aloud. The teacher would promote the best readers to the head of the queue. If one read poorly or did not know where to start reading from, one would get demoted down the queue, a "walk of shame".
I remember once ending up in tears when it was my turn to read but the first word in the sentence was too difficult for me so I paused too long. The teacher thought I had lost my place and I was demoted. My tears reflected my frustration at being misunderstood. I however learnt that one has to work at what you wish to achieve in life and that setbacks or competition by others is a fact of life. No pain, no gain.
Writing compositions and being subjected to regular spelling tests became the norm in those days. One teacher loved asking us to spell the word "bicycle" because the pronunciation in Afrikaans (the other official language at the time) was "baie sukkel". Translating the latter to English yields the phrase "a lot of struggling". The positive role of humour in life must never be underestimated, it can help to cement a lot of useful facts into our existence if used constructively. I will certainly never spell "bicycle" incorrectly! I have learnt to always use a spelling checker these days.
I never knew what construed good writing or what was bad writing when I was in primary school. I was surprised when a teacher told me that I would write about her one day. Well Mrs Botes, you were correct since I am doing so today and much to my surprise! I guess that she did see something in me that had yet to fully awaken at that time. I have learnt that writing can be a lot of fun but the best output of writing is when it is appreciated by others. That is where I hope to see my primary reward. One has to always keep the target audience and the intended message in mind to ensure others' appreciation.
My brother introduced me to comics. I was fascinated by the pictures and what the actors in the plot were reportedly saying. A lot of people thought that comics were a bad thing at the time but I beg to differ since I was encouraged to read a lot as a consequence of my newly found interest. I got to the stage where I would beg my brother to buy me more comics. He told me at a time that he had just given me a Popeye comic and he challenged me to tell him what the comic was about. He went into gales of laughter when I told him what "Poopy" had been doing. I learnt that pronunciation and accuracy when reading (and writing) was important and very important to keep in mind since no-one likes to experience criticism.
I moved on to reading actual books, either bought or borrowed from the library. Several Enid Blyton books were followed by a wide range of topics to include books on heroes such as Biggles. Jack London's books were must sought after at a time due to a teacher at school reading aloud from them. Science fiction writers such as Isaac Asimov, Anne McCaffrey, Ron Hubbard, Arthur Clarke and several others found favour with me. I remember once being frustrated when I went to the library to discover that the book White Fang had a waiting list several weeks in length. These days it is a lot easier to obtain books to read so youngsters don't have any excuses today!
I remember reading a book in class when we were given time to do so and not hearing when the teacher called my name. I was in another book-induced world at the time, I was entirely focused on the book. Books have the capability to transport us to another internal world, they are a great healing mechanism and can be great friends.
I found it a lot easier to study and to present written submissions when I went to university to study engineering. This was due to the fact that the extensive reading that I had done in the past had expanded my vocabulary and enhanced my understanding of the English language. The larger one's vocabulary and the knowledge of grammar is, the easier it is to then write about any topic under the sun. We all need to use text in a formal manner at some stage in one's life, so one may as well work at doing a good job of it.
My second job after graduating involved generating many different technical documents including marketing blurbs, system specifications, system descriptions, training documentation and reams of emails. I even became the chairperson of a union for two years and issued weekly reports to all of our members. At that time, I was given the nickname "Wilbur" because my colleagues said that I could write faster than they could read.
Around that time my colleagues encouraged me to write a book. I had no idea as to how to go about doing that. So, I bought a book entitled "How to get published in South Africa". It provided some very useful lessons. Several have stuck in my mind until this day. A summary bit of advice states "Write a book and then find a single publisher. In that order." Those days there was no Internet but these days aspiring authors can learn a lot by researching what others have done and by reading books. So, all aspiring authors out there, go for it! Just remember that it can take a long time to see the result of your work. On the other hand, if it was easy then everybody would be doing it......
