Thursday, August 30, 2012

Don't You Love Classic Cars?

This is a picture of our 1955 Chevy BelAir.  It's considered a classic car, and we love it.  My grandkids call it our "new old car" and I call it our "ice cream car", but no matter what, it's kind of fun to go cruising in it, windows down because there isn't any air conditioning, and watch people wave or give us a high sign.  Oh, we don't drive it everywhere, but we do enjoy it when we do get it out.  Course, the older cars don't have all the bells and whistles of our new cars.  Our '55 doesn't have power steering which sometimes makes my husband say a few unmentionable words, and it doesn't have power brakes so you do have to work a bit when we go for a ride.  But does it matter -- no way.  It's fun to let the wind blow through my hair and just have a good ride.

I love the old cars because they have a distinctive style that we don't see in today's cars.  It's that uniqueness that makes them special, and I started comparing it to writers because it's their uniqueness that makes their books stand out.  It's hard to be different and come up with new ideas, but if you're a reader, I'm sure you've experienced that special story that hooks you and it's because an author found a way to create it a little differently than another author.  Ideally, every story written is unique or special, but often things can be missing that don't draw you in.

What's the reason for writing this?  I have to admit, I'm not exactly sure, but we've been taking alot of time pulling the chrome and getting our car ready for a new paint job.  While we were doing it, I found myself thinking that sometimes an author needs to spend some extra time to dissect their story to make them more appealing.  They need to fix the little flaws the same way we're trying to fix the flaws in our car. 

Perhaps you're not a writer -- whatever you do, whatever your passion, take the time to decide what makes you unique, what things you do that are different, and every once in awhile, find some time to dissect what you do to fix the flaws. 

I have a new book coming out in October titled, You Complete Me.  I had a story idea, and I love writing, but something didn't fit as I tried to put it together.  I had to find something to make it a little unique, and I think I did.  I had to dissect the characters and fix the flaws that I originally had in the story, but the time was worth it.  At least I hope you feel it was.  I'm happy with the way the story turned out.  Watch for it from Bookstrand.com in October.

If you get a minute, check out my website at http://KRBailey.com - It has information on all my stories and where you can find them as well as my bio and other information.  I'd love to hear from you.

And if you get a minute, check out a classic old car!