New Voices: Steve Drennon



Author Steve Drennon

Where does inspiration come from? For me, it was my 16 year old daughter. Last year she was helping me clean out the garage and sorting through some old stuff. I’ve always been something of a pack rat, but from time to time I’ll decide it’s time to toss some of the old memories.

                As we were going from box to box, my daughter came across one that I hadn’t seen or opened in many years. When she looked inside she found a stack of neatly typed pages wrapped in an old newspaper. This was the only remaining copy of a manuscript I had tried to shop around over twenty years ago. The story was a fantasy, complete with wizards and warriors and demons and such, and when she asked if she could read it, I said of course!

                Over the next week or so, I’d see her sitting in her room, flipping through the pages, but I resisted the temptation to ask her what she thought of it. I was just thrilled that she was actually reading it! So, I kept my distance and waited to see if she would come to me with any opinions on it, and eventually she did.

                After she finished reading the entire book, she came and asked me why I had never bothered publishing it. I tried explaining that I had sent it out to several publishers, and at one time there were a couple who actually showed some interest. However, after following their suggestions and doing a couple of rewrites, I had eventually grown weary of the process and gave up on it. She told me that was too bad, because she thought it was a really great book!

                Even if I had never sold a copy of that book, just hearing her say that made me more proud than I had felt in a very long time! A couple of months later I started reading about this self-publishing craze and how simple it was to get your book published as an e-book. I started researching it, and then after a couple more months, I decided to do one last rewrite on the book before publishing it myself.

                Since then, I’ve sold over a hundred copies, and I discovered that I had the desire to write again. For the first time in many years, I found myself working on a new book, and just this past week I published my second fantasy novel!

                However, the best part of this story is the impact it had on my daughter. Shortly after I started rewriting my first book, she decided she was going to write a book based on a story idea she had! I’ve had the opportunity to read parts of it, and it’s really quite good! My daughter is now 17, and within the next couple of months, she will become a published author as well, and I think that will be one of the proudest days of my life!

Thank you, Steve, for being such a supportive friend to other writers. Lean more about Steve's poetry and fantasy fiction at his website and follow him on Twitter, @sdrennon!