The Last Trimester

By Keith Fisher

Recently, I sent a cool photo in an email to a writer friend of mine. She sent back the one you see in this page. Not only was this the better picture, but it gave me an idea for a writing concept.

I heard a lecture for gospel doctrine teachers once. The subject was the book of revelations and the symbolism contained there. The instructor was talking about the silence in heaven and suggested a way of understanding it. He said it’s more like a "pregnant silence". Like something is about to happen and we are all waiting with baited breath.

In the picture, what’s about to happen is obvious. A special person is about to make an appearance and is already trying to expand the environment. For all unpublished writers, this is a great analogy of our work. We have gone to the (writers conferences) doctor's appointments. We have done the exercises (extracted adverbs and flowery descriptions). We take our medicine (scrap the bad in favor of the good), and we continue working and promoting, because we know we will get a contract. We are not sure when it will come, but we know it will.

A friend of mine got a contract in the mail the other day. A publisher wants the book. The offer came after my friend submitted many different stories. In a way, this book has been waiting to be delivered. Like the baby in the picture, it has been struggling to be born.

The bottom line here is that any of us can be published. All of us are like the mother in the picture. We're waiting for a marvelous event. Hang in there—try to relax—the baby (book) will come, but just as with the birth of a child, after the excruciating pain, the real work of promotion and sales begins.

Good luck with your writing—see you next week.