KATHRYN JONES on WRITING

I would like to THANK Kathryn Elizabeth Jones for taking her time to write something for us regarding writing.  Kathryn like myself has transitioned from writing non-fiction to writing fiction; the only difference is while she has returned to her roots in writing I haven't.

My Journey from Non-fiction to Fiction and Back Again

By

Kathryn Elizabeth Jones

Take it from me. The journey of a writer is fraught with all sorts of perils, not all of them obvious to the casual reader. A book that is selling well today, more than likely traveled through a myriad of rejections before it was accepted by a publisher. Or it may never have been accepted by the traditional publishing crowd but for awe-inspiring reasons is doing a stand-up job today as a self-published book. 

 

And non-fiction? While it may have started me out on my journey of writing--I wrote true stories and published journalistic articles before I ever got my hands on writing, A River of Stones, a YA fictional novel, there was something about non-fiction that prepared me for fiction and drew me back again. 

If truth be told, and I'd like to think that I focus on truth in both my fiction and non-fiction pursuits, it is both easy and difficult to write the truth, especially if the truth is part of your life.

Take for instance a fictional story that surrounds a girl named Samantha. Her parents have divorced and her mother has remarried. She has a 'blood brother' and one new brother that her new father has brought with him to the marriage that she hates. The truth of the matter is that the girl is me, my parents have divorced and my mother has remarried. I have one 'blood brother', two half brothers and two step sisters, or is it the other way around?

Frankly, it was difficult growing up in such a household with steps, and half's and a 'full blood', though today much of the angst I once experienced has smoothed over. But as a child I learned to share, (to really share), to keep bad thoughts to myself, and to cry whenever I was alone enough to do so.

Sharing this new life with new siblings was tough. But the truth eventually made it's way into A River of Stones, and, along with a bit of fiction (as well as friction), shares the truth of what it means to be a young girl when your parents have divorced.

A few years passed before I returned to non-fiction, though I was reading it more often than the fiction variety. But I suppose the dream of non-fiction returned when I realized I didn't have to write school papers anymore, and that the love I had for the truth could manifest itself without the corrections only a professor could bring.

Let me just say that Conquering Your Goliaths: A Parable of the Five stones, was a good place to start, and that the guidebook and the eventual release of  Marketing Your Book on a Budget, only showed that I could write spiritual as well as more technical books.

Me, technical? 

Sure. I'd started with the journalistic type of article; articles that demanded facts and charts, and the sort of stuff that was real and true, (no matter what you might have heard about some journalists and what they write) and here I was again, sharing with writers how to get reviews, interviews, even speaking engagements. And how to do it all for free--or almost free.

So I have come full circle, and I suppose it was the only thing I could do, in this wonderful realm of writing the truth, whether it is fiction--or not.

Bio:

Kathryn has been a published writer since 1987.  She graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Mass Communication and a minor in Creative Writing. Her studies included work in creative writing, public relations and journalism. In 2012, she opened the doors to Idea Creations Press, a publishing services company that caters to writers and their writing, publishing and marketing needs. Her newest book, Marketing Your Book on a Budget 2013, can be found at:  http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Your-Book-Budget-ebook/dp/B0094XV6MA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366236975&sr=8-1&keywords=marketing+your+book+on+a+budget+2013 .

WEBSITE: http://www.ariverofstones.com/