What It Took to Write a Book

The Book

I did it. I just uploaded my book manuscript to lulu.com, an online self-publishing company. A String of Bells is a family history book in story form. Its central character is Julius Bell of Beaufort, SC; an ordinary man who lived during an extraordinary time in American history. He served as a Civil War artilleryman for four years under Generals Lee, Hardee, and Johnston and lost everything, starting over in Savannah, GA, after being wounded in the penultimate battle of the Carolinas Campaign. The book follows the Bell family from its arrival in America in the 1740s to the present day and the joys and struggles they endured. The Bells are my ancestors.

About Me

I did not like school. After struggling through some classes and withdrawing from others, I joined the Navy and gained much-needed focus and discipline. I took some more classes. I still did not like school but managed to earn an associates degree. I have been taking online classes over the past 6-8 years to grow as a Christian, Catholic, husband, father, and catechist. I’ve come to like that kind of school.

I love to read. I have always enjoyed reading, but it too has become more focused and intentional. I usually have at least three different books going at the same time: one for pleasure, one for knowledge, and one for spiritual enrichment. THAT is the way I prefer to learn, supplemented by audiobooks, radio broadcasts, and podcasts.

I like history, though that too came later in life, specifically after reading The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, a narrative about the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975. I read (or skimmed) about 20-25 books in preparing to write A String of Bells, mostly histories about Beaufort, Savannah, and the Civil War.

Anything Worth Doing…

Finally, I like to write. For many years it was mostly things like letters, journal entries, poems, song lyrics, and Bible lists. I have been preparing lessons for our Sunday School students for 15 years, and this blog has given me another outlet. I do feel I have become a better story-teller by being intentional about writing over the past three years. Nevertheless, I have no illusions that I am a gifted or creative writer, and I know many people that are better story-tellers. I take comfort in G.K. Chesterton’s quote, “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” His point is not that you shouldn’t give it your best effort, but that even if your best effort is amateurish, it still has great value. Should only a classically trained pianist play the piano? Should only trained engineer with great vision build anything? Just so, should only a Pulitzer Prize-caliber author write a book? The world would be a poorer place if that was so. And there would be far fewer books!

If I can do it…

My mother was our family genealogist, and she kept all her papers in a very disorganized clutter (like mother, like son!). I inherited much of that clutter after she passed away, and I have tried to organize it and add to it. As I made discoveries, I wanted to share them. We live in an amazing time. Technology now allows us to do so many things that could not be done just a few short years ago. Much of my family research was done at home on sites like ancestry.com and genealogybank.com, and I took three research trips to interview relatives, visit libraries, tour battlefields, and get a feel for the places my ancestors lived.

I work full time, so from initial vision this project took about 36 months in total, the last 6 or so putting the stories, facts, and quotes into some sort of order, the final 4 months polishing and adding, and the last 5 or 6 weeks feverishly editing and formatting at every available moment. My wife Jean, son Ben, and others added a great deal of their talents and time to make it as perfect as possible. That is a lesson for us as well. You’d be amazed at the imperfections they caught that I didn’t, and the suggestions and gifts they brought to it that made it that much better.

I have no illusions that I am a gifted or creative writer, but I like writing. Thus, I did it. Better said, WE did it. It is a great feeling, even if it doesn’t win a Pulitzer Prize.

What do you like to do?