From the typewriter to print on demand:one writer's journey
Melinda Palacio -- September 20, 2005
Willard Thompson received a great gift when his wife asked her friend to transcribe his typewritten manuscript onto a compact disc. Obtaining early readership and feedback from a local book club has been an invaluable experience for the recent winner of a John E. Profant scholarship.
The Montecito writer attributes his successful foray into lulu.com's print on demand publishing to Belma Johnson's adult ed workshop. Thompson was most impressed by the fact that he maintains all the rights to his manuscript. Lulu.com allowed him to choose a cover design and size for his book. He printed copies for each member of the Santa Barbara Inklings, a book club that has been meeting for over 15 years.
Willard Thompson
Thompson is proud to have shared the story that's been haunting him for years with the Inkling book club. However, the process of getting the story to the online printing service wasn't as easy as one might think because Thompson had written the original manuscript on a typewriter. The version that lulu received was significantly altered from the typewritten manuscript. Thompson's wife Jo and her friend Carol Clement who transcribed the type written manuscript are the only other people aware of the vast changes and metamorphoses his manuscript has gone through.
Clement, a medical transcriber and member of the Inkling book club is Thompson's toughest critic. "She liked the first draft and was upset about the rewrite," said Thompson. In his rewrite, Thompson changed the novel's point of view and ending, as well as several pages and chapters.
He says he's grateful to the staff of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference for teaching him how to revise his novel scene by scene. It was three years ago when he first submitted the prologue of his novel and now he's ready to land an agent.
Clement admits that she had to let go of the earlier draft of the novel that she had put on disc. "As I was transcribing it, to me it became very visual," she said. "It was hard to separate out what I heard from the old version to the new version." But once she accepted the changes, she was excited for Thompson and impressed by his ability to tell a story.
Inkling member
Carol Clement
"I think it is such a gift. To me it's a miraculous thing to have a concept and get it down on paper. I find it almost untouchable. I feel sometimes like there's a novel in me, but I don't have the means to get it down on paper."
Dream Helper is a historical novel about the dispossession of the Chumash Indians as told by Cayatu, the name of the first Chumash to be baptized at Santa Barbara's Mission. Thompson is working on his third draft. Having exchanged his typewriter for a computer has facilitated his ease at revision. And yet, he says he was amazed at all the typos the book club found--he was certain he had caught most of them in the preceding drafts. What was even more surprising to Thompson was that the members of the book club showed a great interest in his book. "They really liked it and they understood it," said Thompson.
Inkling Member
Jane Eller
Inkling member Jane Eller said she enjoyed the challenge of having the author present at their monthly meeting. "I liked the historical aspect of the novel because I've been in Santa Barbara so long (55 years) and I liked the characters," she said.
Jo Thompson
Although the feedback Thompson gained from Inkling members was tremendous, the most important editing and input has come from his wife of 30 years Jo Thompson, a hair stylist. She has been happy to assist him with the editing and marketing of his work. "It's been exhilarating," she said. "I don't think you can be married to a writer and not have an active role. You become the sounding board."
Do you have a novel you're itching to publish? Belma Johnson's next workshop on self-publishing is October 1, 2005 at Santa Barbara's Alice Schott Center.