WRITING IS AN ART FORM

“SIN-DICATION”

            The last time I tried to write this story, it was launched into the stratosphere when my computer froze, refused to save it, and then obliterated my endeavors.  Are there forces at work greater than my own power?

            My writers’ group used to meet at Michael’s former home in Surrey and one evening in 2002 or 2003, I was the first party to arrive.  I sat in the kitchen, with an unobstructed view of both the front and back doors, which were open that warm evening.  Watching Michael prepare refreshments, I listened to him telling me that he was going to be a very rich and famous writer, that he was giving himself three years to achieve the goal of being self-supporting from his creative writing.  I loved his enthusiasm and then started to laugh, remembering and then relating my former attempt to get rich quick from writing.

            It was the beginning of October, 1985.  I was a separated mother of two, desperately seeking some way to earn more money. I already worked for The Aldergrove Star, our local weekly newspaper.  Rudy Langmann, the owner and editor, hired me to sell subscriptions and also allowed me to write a weekly column about my experiences doing so door-to-door.  That was marvelous.  I was a weekly columnist earning the grand sum of $20.00, in Canadian funds, for my written contribution.  Subscription sales paid me far more than writing.

            I was determined, though, that I would succeed.  Somehow.  I kept writing and I kept looking for opportunities.  Writer’s Market had listed syndication agencies and I started mulling over that idea.  What if?  What if I wrote a weekly column that was syndicated?  What if I sold it to all the weekly newspapers in British Columbia?  There were over one hundred papers, and at $10.00 apiece, I could be rich.

            Good plan.  What would I write about?  Something different.  “What Is The Occult?”  Who could resist that? The New Age was dawning. To prove I could do it, I wrote three sample columns.  I obtained a list of the weeklies and their addresses from the Fraser Valley Regional Library and typed all the envelopes on an electric typewriter.  This was before every home had a personal computer.  I composed a generic cover letter and had all the necessary photo-copying done to send three sample columns to each newspaper.  I stuffed envelopes, sealed and stamped them, and mailed everything.  This was my gamble.  And then I waited.

            In the meantime, Rudy, ever the helpful and willing mentor, kindly published my first column of “What Is The Occult?”  That was not a good business decision. Right in the middle of the Fraser Valley bible belt, where there’s a church on every corner fending off the devil, advertisers in his paper were not going to be part of this evil and sinful endeavor.  They were outraged.  And readers indignantly told Rudy they did not want anything so wicked in “their” local newspaper.  Economic necessity forced Rudy to stop publishing my column on the occult.  I would only be writing about door-to-door subscription sales.  He decided to keep his paper running and forego bringing New Age enlightenment to the Valley.

            My “get rich quick” scheme didn’t get me anywhere.  I never heard back from any other newspaper.

            As I laughingly shared with Michael my failed attempt at making a fortune from writing, the doorbell rang.  I could see there was nobody at the front door and nobody at the back door.  Michael checked downstairs, and there was nobody at the basement door, either.  We just looked at each other and started laughing again.  So what is the occult, anyway?

­­­___________________

By Lisa A. Hatton

Since that time, Michael Hiebert has had several books published, but does admit the royalties don’t pay the rent.  I decided long ago that my writing, for me, is an art form, and I’m going to continue writing just for the sheer enjoyment of it.or 2003