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Five years in the making, Boundary County
resident publishes book |
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September 18, 2014 |
Here's what you do in Boundary County: check the
timber and lumber industry for hidden authors.
That's where you will find McCallum Morgan,
whose book A Hole in the Ice, was just
published a couple of weeks ago. When he is not
busy at work at Idaho Log Finishers and
Chinking, you may well find Mr. Morgan at the
keyboard, writing.
Wait a minute, we need to re-phrase that.
When he is not busy at the keyboard writing, you
may find Mr. Morgan at his regular job at Idaho
Log Finishers and Chinking. There. That's
probably more realistic.
McCallum is a lifelong Boundary County resident,
who lives a few miles north of Bonners Ferry. He
graduated from a home school program in 2013,
but in addition to his regular schooling, has
had additional writing training with the
Institute of Children's Literature in West
Redding, Connecticut. He has been writing since
childhood, putting together many stories and
some comedic plays. And, like many who dream of
being a published author, his authoring past is
strewn with many scrapped starts on writing
books.
His just-published book, A Hole in the Ice,
was about five years in the making. The book is
a science fiction/fantasy volume of 21 chapters,
476 pages. It was published by Little Bird
Publishing House, an English publishing firm,
and is available right now at Bonners Books in
Bonners Ferry, or on Amazon (for our readers who
don't live in Boundary County).
His summary of the book: "Sixteen-year-old
Parsifal comes into possession of a powerful
object that two political factions are hunting.
He sets off across Europe on a 'scientific'
expedition with his uncle, Lady Vasille, and
Balder Balfra, who all have secrets of their
own. As they travel toward distant Siberia, the
purpose of the expedition and the intentions of
the travelers become more and more foggy, more
and more dangerous."
The idea for the story was born from several
experiences and influences in McCallum's life,
beginning with an engaging scene from a painting
that has long hung in his home. "It sparked an
idea that I promptly wrote down," said McCallum.
Other influences include books and programs in
the science fiction/fantasy genre that impacted
him, including Star Wars, the
Hobbit, the Chronicles of Narnia,
and others. And a big part of the mix was
actually inside of Mr. Morgan himself: "I've got
a wild imagination."
For all those hidden and forthcoming authors
among us, Mr. Morgan shares his story of getting
his book put together and published. A
preliminary draft of the book had already been
completed when he took one of his courses from
the Institute of Children's Literature. That
particular course was on writing and selling
children's books, and during that course he
re-wrote his book into a second draft. "The
writing itself was went pretty smoothly, it's
the revision that gets me. I'm terrible at
revision," he said.
He felt fortunate that he had an
already-published author at the Institute who
helped guide him in the preparation of his book,
Clara Gillow Clark. [McCallum notes that Ms.
Clark has two published books available in our
own Boundary County Library, Hill Hawk
Hattie and Hattie on Her Way].
As he wrote further into the A Hole in the
Ice story, the tale in a way began to take
on its own life as he wrote. "Once I was so deep
into the story, it came pretty naturally, the
characters felt alive and real, reacting to the
situations I threw at them on their own. It was
really--I don't know how to describe being in a
story like that--'Beautiful' works, I guess."
Once the story is written, the next challenge is
finding a publisher. "Amazingly, it took me only
about eight tries, which is pretty good. I only
got six rejections from other publishers and
there were a few more I never heard from."
At times, there were some unfamiliarities in
communication with his British publisher (even
though Mr. Morgan and his publisher were both
presumably speaking English). "They once used
the word 'twee.' I had to ask what that meant.
Apparently it's 'overly cute, bordering on
cliche."
Other Boundary County authors-to-be, many
working long into the night at their own
keyboards, are looking for any tips or guidance
on getting their own works published. "I have
the same advice that I have frequently heard
from many sources: persistence," said Mr.
Morgan. "I think it also helps to only write
what you really care about. I'd suggest the
Institute of Children's Literature, they're
amazing and enjoyable, and their courses aren't
very expensive. They also sell some great market
directories through their Writers Bookstore.
Getting published is very dependent on finding
the right publisher for you and your work."
He also has another important tip that is a
must-know for authors in today's world. "I'd
kind of heard of how social media was coming in
as a tool for writers, but wow, I was
unprepared. Since my publisher is a relatively
small one, I have to use social media
extensively to build an audience and get my book
out there. It would be one thing if I liked
social media, but I find Twitter and Facebook to
be more of a chore than anything else."
And, like many other published authors, McCallum
reports on one of his biggest rewards: "The
craziest thing is that I'm actually getting
published. I finally held the printed book in my
hand the other day, and it's hardly real because
this is my dream, and it just came true like
that. Oh yeah, I've always heard about writers
saying they heard the characters in their head.
That happened to me just once. I was thrilled, I
was like 'Yay, I must be a real author!' It felt
like the story was alive and wanted to be told."
McCallum Morgan will be traveling this Saturday
for a book promotional and signing tour----to
Bonners Books! The event will be this Saturday,
September 20, at Bonners Books in downtown
Bonners Ferry, beginning at 11:00 a.m. and
running until 2:00 p.m. He will be there in
person to answer any questions about his book,
and could probably be cajoled into signing a
copy for those who want a personalized edition.
Links for more information about Mr. Morgan and
his book, A Hole in the Ice:
http://mccallumjmorgan.weebly.com/
and:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22939370-a-hole-in-the-ice
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