My very first novel in mass market paperback format, Lucy's Blade", has been published this Xmas by Baen. It is a strange sensation. I first wanted to be a novelist back in my early teens. I devoured Saint stories, James Bond, Len Deighton, Modesty Blaise and a wonderful sixties spy series called the Bang Bang Birds - or something similar. In a long and varied career, I have had published more than seventy five scientific research papers, three popular history books, a couple of radio plays, half a dozen computer games and many, many articles aboutgame playing - but never a novel.
So here we are, forty years on from when I lay in the sun in my family's back garden in Newquay reading a purloined thriller from my mum's collection and I have a paperback under my own name.
You know, the most important quality for success in life is persistence.
I have just finished my sixth short story for a Baen anthology. It's called "Beauty is a Witch" and features an anti-hero, the crooked, devious wicca, Rosalynne.
You can find a free extract of "Lucy's Blade" here:
http://www.baen.com/
If you want to be a writer, write!
John Lambshead
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4 comments:
You're absolutely right, John.
Persistence Pays Off!
It's better than being clever. The other alternative is to be lucky but even luck needs persistence to kick in.
John
Yes, the winning combination seems to be about 80% persistence, 15% luck and 5% talent.
Congrats, John! The first published novel is always a warm fuzzy feeling.
--Pati
Thanks, Pati. Here's to the next.
John
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