A Writer's Journey Part II

Title: A Writer's Journey

Part: II

I sighed as I climbed out of my car at C-G’s parking lot (a neighboring school).  It was spring break, which meant many athletes were away on family vacation, and those that were still home, wouldn’t be coming to the very cold optional practice.  As I had guessed only a few had shown up from my program.  My top 400 hurdler, Sadie Button, was there and my top pole vaulter, Brooke VanSkiver, and a seventh grader named Deven Brutsman.  (I think Sara was there too).  C-G had quite a few kids out and that made it a little more depressing.  Little did I realize that the future of JT boys pole vault was standing right before me on that awful day. 

Deven’s grandfather got out of the truck and I knew him by reputation.  His name was Herb Baker and he was probably the best coach in JT history, which included three track sectional title banners in the gym.  “Deven would really like to pole vault,” he told me.  I perked up at this.  I always like to train new pole vaulters.  Over the next six years I would get to know Mr. Baker by more than reputation and I learned to respect him very much.  If Coach Baker shows up to track practice at JT, he is welcome to coach anything he wants:)

Deven won Sadie, Brooke, and I over that week.  He would be tagging along with Miss Sadie, learning the 400 hurdles or he would be over at the vaulting pit with Brooke and I.  As the weather improved by the end of that week (sort of) he became one of us.  Deven was not a natural at any of the track events he had chosen but he did work hard at them.  (To be fair he was only in seventh grade!!)  The first vault over a bar Deven ever did (we didn’t use bungies at that time) was a bar that Brooke (or was it Sadie) and I held six inches off the matt.  We were very proud of him when he made it over!

A year later, Deven was progressing rapidly as a varsity athlete!  It was 2012 and his new big sisters, Sadie and Brooke, would both be sectional champions that year!  Far from his first time over a three foot bar, Deven would go nine feet in pole vault tying with three other boys for last place!  Last place or not, it was impressive that he went from 3 and a half feet to nine feet!  In the four hundred hurdles he would place 14^th but with an excellent time for his age!  I was very pleased with Devon.  Of course, he was very happy for his two big sisters and they were happy to have him around to share in their joy.

But time moves on, those girls graduated, but Devon continued to effort into track!  He began to get stronger and stronger at his events.  In ninth grade he placed 5^th in the 110 hurdles at sectionals and in tenth grade he won sectionals in pole vault!  This wasn’t luck.  Deven worked hard with his grandfather, Coach Davis, and me spending extra time when others had gone home.  He went to a pole vault camp in Warsaw in the summer and for help beyond me he went to Coach Lewis Senior in Arkport.  He was always glad to vault for me in practice too!

His junior year he faced two other skilled vaulters at sectionals.  Up and up they went.  Then Deven made it over 11’ leaving the other two behind and breaking the school record of 10’6”.  A week later Deven would break his own record at State Qualifiers going 11’6”.  It was a wonderful day!!

Yet Deven was not merely a pole vaulter.  In weeknight meets he could do whatever was needed for Mr. Davis (our guys coach).  His skills ranged from the 110 and 400 hurdles, to 400 and 1600 relays, to the jumping pits, and he would often win.  He was even capable of a very respectable 2:14 in the 800 meter run.  At the Wellsville Spring Days (a larger school meet) he placed third in the Pentathlon scoring over 2000 points!  His senior year Deven would place 2^nd in triple jump at sectionals thanks to his grandfather and Coach Davis.  He was a testament of what one can do if they work very hard and are willing to spend a good amount of time at something.

I needed to be like Deven in my writing career, someone who was willing to learn new skills and grow in new areas.  I needed to spend time learning about how to get my book out there but all I wanted to do was write.  So I started writing book two, Heavy Opposition, not really understanding the “success” of book one.  Success here is defined as seventy people buying the “An Assumed Risk” and a modest check from OIP.  It took Deven years to win sectionals and master various skills in track and field but here I thought I had won right out of the gate!  I failed to grasp that mostly friends had purchased the book, and despite what my hard core C-3 fans think, the C-3 Saga is not for everyone.  It is a very heady thing to have hard core fans very excited about your book and begging for book two. 

Instead of doing any kind of real effort to market book one and growing in that area, I just spent snatches of time writing book two.  I don’t know what my big hurry was.  OIP was on a book release schedule.  I raced to get Heavy Opposition done and excitedly read it to Adrianna.  Her eyes began to glaze over and I realized that I had too many threads.  I had plenty of time to fix it but I HAD to get it out to my fans!!  I look back and laugh at that very immature writer.  Like Deven I had years to grow but I was in a hurry.  I fixed the problem quickly, had the book edited, and sent it to OIP.  It just sat there because they had other books to get out.  I still wonder to this day if Heavy Opposition could have been a bit better.  Again my hard core fans like Heavy Opposition but I think it is one of my weaker books… a missed opportunity.  It did not sell as well as the first one… not at all!  (All the people who bought my first book to encourage me did not sign up to buy every book I would pump out!)  Worse, I lost some fans who were very excited for book two but not very excited about the series after they read it.  This should have been a wakeup call but it wasn’t.  Book three (which was far along when Heavy Opposition came out) looked as if it might be the final book of the series, even though it was supposed to be nine books.  I wasn’t very close to the Lord during book two, and was very stressed out.  I didn’t want to disappoint my fans!  Again, that was a very immature approach to my journey.  If Deven had seriously tried to win sectionals in 8^th grade, he would have been very disappointed!  He wasn’t ready for that yet and neither was I in writing.  The light was beginning to dawn on me but what could be done?