Everybody Needs A Sarah
By Dorothy S. Conlon
We’ve all heard it said that everybody has a book inside them just waiting to be written. And reportedly a great proportion of American people have a dream of writing that personal story and having it published.
It wasn’t that way for me at all. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been told, “Oh you’ve led such a fascinating life, you should write a book.” Now I was quite aware that I had been blessed to have had a rich life, living in far-flung places and meeting famous people. But I always answered those comments with, “No, not me. It’s too darned much work to write a book, and besides, there are too many books already out there.” When I was a kid, I was a voracious reader, but the older I grew—and I’m definitely a senior now—the slower I read, and the fewer books I now consume in a given year. Yes, there are many tempting books appearing all the time, but I never seem to get to them. So why should I add to the inventory?
But then I met Sarah. We were part of a service-learning group in a small Nicaraguan town, viewing and participating in community projects under the aegis of an NGO called “Planting Hope.” Sarah was staying in a household just a block away from the family where I was a guest. We found each other taking a walk together early each morning, a splendid way to share our observations of the neighborhood and to get acquainted in the process. She had been a journalist, so had a keen eye. Although she had done some world travel, she yearned for more when family obligations would lighten up. So she was endlessly curious about the many countries in which I had lived and traveled. For the umpteenth time I heard, “Oh you’ve led such a fascinating life, you should write a book.” But her response to my usual answer gave me pause. Sarah said, “Yes, I know that writing a book is hard work; I’ve done it myself. But if you should ever change your mind, I would be honored to edit your writing.”
Well, that was a tempting offer, particularly since I knew Sarah had taught creative writing and at one time been an editor herself. How could I ignore her generous offer? I mulled it over a bit before sending her my first timid attempt, a chapter about a tour I had taken in Bolivia that had had an exciting turn and even potential danger. Her response was so prompt and enthusiastic and helpful that I was totally hooked. I was by nature a literal sort of writer, sparse with the adjectives and embellishments. Sarah, with impressive diplomacy, queried me about details to help me make each story more personal and vivid, all the time assuring me how good it was.
By the time I had tweaked “Bolivian Buses and Blockades” considerably, I was ready to send her a piece about volunteer teaching in Thailand. Over the next few months my skill at fleshing out the bare-bones reports I had filed about each separate trip (just for my own memory bank), improved drastically. Working with cheetahs in Namibia, a Zambezi River safari, cruising down the Amazon, separate chapters on Japan, India, Vietnam—I was off and running. What fun! Which excursion should I focus on next? It seemed important to include a geographical range even though much of my life has been spent in the Far East. And since volunteering has given me such rich insight into different cultures, I chose to include tales of volunteer experiences in half or more of my chapters.
Yes, it was Sarah’s enthusiasm that convinced me that a book about my varied adventures would be of interest to would-be travelers. It wasn’t meant to tout ME so much as to give my readers vicarious travel experiences and maybe inspire them to try something new, to explore off the beaten path, to seek more cultural immersion when venturing abroad. The end result, “At Home in the World: Memoirs of a Traveling Woman” was published by PublishAmerica in August 2007, and I’ve had gratifying feedback from readers who share my passion for travel.
So, for all of you wannabe authors out there, find yourselves a Sarah who can help you mine your work for all its little nuggets. A good editor can make sure all the gold of your story has been gleaned, or exposed, as the case may be. I guarantee that you will have much more fun writing your manuscript, and the finished product will be considerably better.
*Dorothy Conlon is an octogenarian globe-trotter who, often traveling alone, explores destinations that are well off the beaten track. She is the author of At Home in the World: Memoirs of a Traveling Woman. Check out her website at: www.dorothyconlon.com
