In 1979 I undertook my first attempt at writing a novel - Bad Timing. I devoted two to three hours per week-day to my portable Olympic electric typewriter. I succeeded. The novel was finished in 1982 and gracefully rejected by publishers.. But my personal accomplishment overpowered the rejections. That lost manuscript was rediscovered in mid-2018, in a tattered old moving box as I began downsizing. I gained a new appreciation for words typed on beautifully textured cotton-bond paper.
It was that novel that provided confidence in my ability to write. During that same period I penned numerous articles for local and regional Utah publications and garnered by-lines. The Salt Lake Tribune's publisher recognized my skill at writing travel articles and ocasionally gave me the front page in the Tribune's Sunday Travel Section. Utah Holiday Magazine published several of my articles. Expression Magazine provided me my first interview based article on Utah artist, Margret Card. Utah Business asked me write a piece on Salt Lake City's economic loss when the Rolling Stones concert that could have been held at the University of Utah Football Stadium was declined by our civic leaders. I was sent to Boulder to gather data related to the associated economic loss to Salt Lake City. In December 1993 had the pleasure and honor of interviewing Chip Davis, founder of Mannheim Steamroller for The Event. I believe that was the best piece I had written during that period. It was published in The Event and in Penthouse. Chip Davis sent me a wonderful complimentary letter, thanking me. Most articles included my photography. I will always thank Thomas McCarthy, Salt Lake Tribune publisher for recognizing my writing skills and giving me the opportunity to become a published author. Thank you, Tom!
During this period, I also began ascending the corporate ladder and it was not difficult to comprehend which provided a greater return on my investment of time. In the corporate world I had all the writing experience one could ask for; press releases, business related articles, company directives, manuals, memorandums, etc., I wrote prolifically as I progressed up that corporate ladder, and realized my writing skills were paying off in a different way than I' had previously thought possible, and I didn't have to schlep books.
The outcome of writing and creating management training manuals for one of America's largest companies resulted in the creation of the material I relied on as I wrote and published my first marketable book, Successful Management 101; The Manager's Manual, available on Amazon. The second edition is scheduled for release in late-2023.
In 2018 I found another original manuscripts, Blizzard in Miami. It had been packed in a trunk in 1985 when I moved my family to Holladay. Contrary to what I believed for the past thirty-plus years, both books that had been lost for three decades have good content, worthy of editing and improving. I have begun transferring Bad Timing from analog to digital and began editing during that process. I am also in the final stages of finishing a book of poetry and prose, Love & Disdain. that is intended for a 2023 release.
Setting a time to write has changed, as my brain seems to take control of when I write. I have said to friends when I missed engagements: "I do not summon words, they come for me." Fortunately, most understand.
"Inspiration knows not how to tell time.
she comes whenever she wants...….."
Copyright ©2014-2023 by Raymond Cannefax - All material and content of this website.
Medicine Man
Many years ago, in a rustic diner in Ruidoso, a small village in the mountains of New Mexico, I spent an evening with an Apache elder.........
NEWS!
Does it have merit?
Did it ever have merit?
Is it not simply a means of telling us of incidents ..............
LOVE & DISDAIN
Poetry and Prose
2023 Release
Successful Management 101
Available on Amazon
Second Edition available September 2023
RIGHT OR WRONG?
Years of doing the right thing is commendable. Most functioning at his level in society do that; they do the “right thing”...…….
As long as I recall, I have worked at becoming an accomplished writer. Having had no involvement within the literary community, ever, and nothing other than the required English courses in college, I ventured out on own, knowing I would overcome obstacles encountered. German was my first language and initially, I fought English.
LOVE & DISDAIN
Poetry and Prose
2023 Release