The Great American Novel by Robin Tidwell

That’s the goal of every author, right? But sometimes we get distracted.

Back in, oh, 1997, I got my first computer, a hand-me-down from my sister. I couldn’t even get online with that thing, but I kept trying. Finally, knowing I wanted to write a book, my husband bought me a used machine and I learned how to operate it—even went to some message boards and met a few people that I still keep in touch with.

But no book was written.

I outgrew that computer pretty quickly, and snagged a brand new, custom-built job—still no book. Over the next ten years, I thought about that Great American Novel, but I didn’t actually start putting pen to paper, so to speak, until 2005.

Oh, happy day! My husband was thrilled, kept the kids away, took over the cooking and cleaning. And I wrote.

A whopping 1000 words.

I mentioned distractions, right? Well, we had five kids between us, and I ran our various businesses, and then I went back to college. Again. And I kept upgrading my computer system, and wow, have things changed or what?

But still no book.

One night, January 31, 2012, to be exact, I had a dream. The next morning, and over the next six months, I wrote a book; dystopian fiction—REDUCED. That was followed by REUSED, RECYCLED, and, coming in March 2015, God willing and the creek don’t rise (actually, rising creeks are a hazard around here), REPEAT will be, um, released.

Still no Great American Novel.

I found the file today. It was under “book.doc.” Nice, huh? As an author and publisher, I have many, many files with the word “book” in them. Many. It took me a 30 solid minutes of searching and clicking. But it’s there—all 1000 words.

Wow. Only 80,000 or so to go . . .

After I read it, and managed not to cringe, much, I remembered that I’d introduced a few more characters—so where did they go?? Fortunately, they had unique names, old-fashioned ones, so I searched again. Found another file: book (autosaved).doc.

Impressive, yes? I really need to give this at least a working title . . .

Maybe it’s right that things turned out like this. Maybe I needed all those years to gain more experience, more skill. Maybe I’ll get it written. Soon. Ish.

It’s epic—in the truest sense of the meaning of that word—twists, turns, parallels, flashbacks; it covers five generations of women in one family. History, love, war. And after finding that second file, well, I’m up to nearly 3000 words.

I might even be able to keep some of them.

And while I have, as yet, no title, and no synopsis, it does have a genre: family friction. No, that’s not a typo. It’s a new genre—and this may be the first book categorized as such. You can thank my mother . . . she knows!

 

Robin’s writing career began at the age of eight, when her grandmother insisted she read Gone with the Wind before taking her to see the movie. Inspired by Margaret Mitchell, she began scribbling little booklets of stories, and was the editor of her elementary school newspaper and a columnist in high school. She submitted a short story to Seventeen magazine and was promptly rejected, but still keeps a copy of the manuscript in her desk.

Robin has worked as a snack bar cook, a salad prepper, a camp counselor, a waitress, a receptionist, a housekeeper, a freelancer, an editor, and an employment consultant and manager. She’s also been in car sales, skin care sales, cookware sales, advertising sales, and MLM. She’s owned and operated an entrepreneurial conglomerate, a cleaning service, an old-time photography studio, a bookstore, and a publishing house.

Six years ago, Robin and her husband Dennis moved back to St. Louis, after many years in Columbia, Sedalia, Colorado Springs, Durango, and Granbury and Tolar, Texas. They live with their youngest son, a dog, a cat, and a new puppy. www.robintidwell.com

Website URL:  http://www.RobinTidwell.com

Blog URL:  RobinTidwell.Wordpress.com