From: 4joyces at mchsi.com <4joyces>
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 12:05:30 +0000

Thank you, Lee, for your warm, true answer to Monica's post:

"No writer ever set out to write a bad book. Publishing just one book should give one the feeling of bringing something into world that hasn't appeared before."

There is nothing like the terror and elation of starting to write a new book, of scrambling around with a bunch of ideas until they begin to coalesce, and never being sure that the whole thing will be worth anyone's while.

If we really--any of us, published writers or not--let our fears immobilize us, nothing would ever get written at all. And we would never "bring something into the world that hasn't appeared before."

Here's to courage!

Joyce Sidman




> Re Monica's statement:
>
> ...how scary to worry that your later books will never measure up to
> those early ones that made such splashes.
>
> For some reason, Monica's post touched my heart.
>
> In l977, close to three decades ago, my first novel MAMA (Knopf, 1977),
> which received a bevy of wondrous reviews. BUT...in was l977!) And soon
the
> controversy began.
>
> MAMA is a novel featuring a single parent mother of two young boys who
> steals for the family's survival. It is in most part autobiographical. The
> protagonist is me as a l2-year-old growing up with very little, but with lots
of
> love from an incredible woman. MAMA quickly went into a Dell paperback. For
> the first time Dell had to issue a warning in their catalog that the book
> should be purchased under parental approval only.
>
> Today, 28 years later, MAMA is still in print in paperback with Boyds Mills
> Press.
>
> After MAMA, I wrote two other novels. Although well-reviewed they never had
> the same impact MAMA had, and continues to have on readers.
> Although my career turned a different direction, mainly due to a love of
> poetry and knowing the impact it has on children, I never, nor must any
writer
> feel 'scary to worry.'
>
> No writer ever set out to write a bad book. Publishing just one book should
> give one the feeling of bringing something into world that hasn't appeared
> before.
>
> I look forward to reading Monica's 'birthing' even if it is her only splash.
>
> This is a tough business; moreso than ever. But splashes can ripple
> into oceans.
>
> LBH
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _www.leebennetthopkinsbooks.com_ (http://www.leebennetthopkinsbooks.com)
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Received on Mon 17 Oct 2005 07:05:30 AM CDT