I was so excited, I had to call up my Long Lost Cousin, to tell him the news.

“Hello Cousin, I have to tell you my first novel is out on Kindle. I’m so excited.”

“That’s great Cousin, what’s it about?”

“Well, there are three main characters suffering with extreme guilt and they try to rid themselves of their guilt in different ways and they all get tangled up with a gangster.”

“Hey, that sounds interesting. What’s it like, writing and publishing a novel?”

“Your novel is like your baby, but the gestation period is much longer than nine months. You plough on and on, then one day it’s finished.”

“Your baby, huh?”

“That’s right. Getting to the end of the novel is hard and at the finish it’s sad, because you have to let go and let it out into the world.”

“I imagine it takes a lot of going over to make it just right.”

“Yes it does, it’s called revising. You check grammar, punctuation, word choice, etc. It’s about looking at your book from different angles.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

“Do you read many novels, Cousin?”

“Yes, I just finished one that I didn’t like at all. In fact, the writer should have put a finishing touch on the story- A MATCH!”

“That’s very funny, I hope you like my novel.”

“Can you take criticism on your book?”

My Cousin was starting to delve beneath my skin, now.

“Yes, I can, when you are a writer you have to have a thick skin. When your novel is out there in the big, bad, world, you have to expect some criticism.”

“How do you rationalize it to yourself?”

“Well, when you let out an object into the world, and it’s something you have created and invested in; when all is said and done, it is still an object that can and should be criticized.”

“Do you have interesting characters in your novel?”

“I hope you will find them interesting. I tried to make it a character study.”

“This novel that I didn’t like; the writer said his characters bore no resemblance to any person living or dead. That was what was wrong with the story!”

I smiled, but I wished he wouldn’t make so many jokes.

“Well Cousin, I hope you will download my book onto your Kindle. Remember my novel is like a game for two players, you and me. My book may have been written in solitude but the dream of the story comes alive when the reader’s imagination collaborates with my imagination. I hope I can get you Cousin, to stay inside the dream of my story.”

“About this birth of yours, was it a long labour?”

“You and your jokes, Cousin, yes, as a matter of fact, about three years.”

“Well, if you kept at it that long, I congratulate you and I will most certainly download your book.”

“Thank you, Cousin, the world is filled with words and I hope you enjoy the ones I am giving you.”

PS-From Writer Dave: My novel, “Web of Guilt, A Chicago Story”, is coming soon to Amazon Kindle.