In April 2009 I chanced upon a website that brought me to an epiphany.
Don't ask me how it happened but, Robert Lee Brewer has changed my life. Don't laugh, it's true. Now here is a questions: What does Mr. Brewer have in common with President Obama? A lot. Don't laugh.
You see, many people seem to like to hang their hopes and aspirations on others and both men have offered the masses just such an opportunity. In Mr. Brewer's case it was the offering of a seemingly harmless little challenge: Write a poem a day for each day in April and he'll pick a handful for publishing in an ebook. It was open to anybody and he got flooded.
At first he was kind with the regular updates. Did I mention that the results were to be posted within a month or two and now we're about ten months later? Anyway, life goes on and so did Robert. He is a very busy man, from what I can see on his blog. Very in demand. Oh, did we forget to mention that he is an artist and these are not people well known for long-term commitments to very involved projects. Suffice it to say that he got in over his head.
Now, the last update was in October. The only activity that the participants have seen since then is that he closed the possibility for people to post nasty comments about how disillusioned they have become with him. You see it seems that people are a bit too trusting and feel that when they put work out there, it is still their property. Silly people. Lesson number one on the internet. Anything you say, is no longer yours unless you have actually published it, and even then it might still no longer be yours. It's a bit like gossip. You said it, now you can't take it back. Sorry. Too bad that you thought you were talking to your best friend and found out that he has his own agenda.
Anyway, I too have been eagerly awaiting the results of the April Poetry Month challenge. But, this is what Robert Lee Brewer did for me: He kicked me in the ass, in a good way! I did the challenge and ended up with a starting point. Really, how good is your first draft going to be anyway? But, it got my name out there. You type in Freyda Tartak and it comes up on line one regardless of search engine. So, thank you Robert Lee Brewer. You did that for me.
Furthermore, I didn't stop with April. I kept writing. Different stuff. Now, I've made some money selling articles and even more people have read my work. This makes me happy.
Further still, and here is the kicker, I published a book. Now, this is truly Robert's fault. Like I said, it was a starting point. I reworked and re-edited everything. To be sure, some of it was absolute junk... but, some wasn't. So, here we are: A broken axle spinning blind later and it is all thanks to Robert Lee Brewer. So, who cares if he didn't follow through on his promises? He isn't God and doesn't define destiny. Come on people! Use what he gave you and stop complaining. If you want to publish your work, do what any real writer does, rework it, make it better.
So, as far as I am concerned, I am gratefully. Truly. Because, I only have one life to live and I wanted mine to include having written a bunch of books and now I'm working on my next one. In the mean time, do a gal a favor and buy Broken Axle because you know what? It really is a good read!
