It has been the only item remaining on the list for sometime.
I made the list so long ago, I don’t even recall when it was. It was before my first guest appearance on television, before my first Maine Press Association award, before my first magazine article was published and before I was working a pro hockey beat - because all of those things were on that list of things I wanted to accomplish.
For the last few years, the only thing left on that “to do” list was to publish a novel.
Thursday, I came pretty close to accomplishing that feat. When the UPS man buzzed me, I knew what it was. My proof of Sons and Daughters of the Ocean had arrived.
I opened the package with great anticipation and even greater fear. After struggling to try and revamp the cover artwork and get it to work with my publisher's template, I was afraid it would look distasterous and I’d have to start all over again.
When I pulled it out, the front cover looked pretty cool. I liked it. And in my hand I held my novel - a piece of fiction I’ve been writing off and on for most of this decade. It’s been so long, I can’t even remember when I started it.
The story is based on some of my own family history. It chronicles life in a small Maine coastal town called Brooks Harbor. The story focuses on three teens - Alfred Miller, Sarah Dyer and Sammy Jones - that have grown up in a village where sea-faring and shipbuilding has shaped their lives. But their close proximity to the sea comes to change them more than any of them can imagine. It is a historical novel based on true stories culled from the rich maritime legacy of my ancestors.
I don’t even recall exactly how I this particular story became my first serious attempt at a novel. I have had other ideas. If I had a book for every book idea that goes through my brain, I’d have an entire library by now.
I know Sons and Daughters of the Ocean stemmed from the extensive research and writing I did for a book on Mills family history and then another book on the life of my grandfather. Both books were 350-plus pages and took many years to complete.
After completing my book on Mills history, I kind of followed the old newspaper adage of “write what you know.” And a new novel idea was born, one which I could actually see potential in and maybe even finish.
My great great grandfather was a reknowned shipbuilder and built one of the nations’ first three-masted schooners. My great grandfather sailed on schooners for about 20 years before becoming a lighthouse keeper. Their lives served as a bit of a template for this story.
This work was also inspired a bit by the Civil War trilogy by Michael and Jeff Shaara. The Killer Angels and the subsequent works Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure were excellent historical novels. I wanted to take the history I had researched and do something similar. I even have enough material from my family history to do a three-part series. In fact, my second novel, Sea of Liberty, is a bit of a prequel to this story, but more on that later.
Writing this has been a bit of an ardous process. As much as I love writing, I discovered what a challenge it is to write a piece of fiction when you are so trained and accustomed to writing about actual events and people. When I sit down to write a newspaper story, I have all the facts, details and perspectives in front of me. Many times I've seen this person or team play and can write from my own perspective as well as their's. All I have to do is weave it all together with a little flair and creativity.
Writing a story without those facts, details and perspectives was a challenge. I had to draw on a creative writing mind that is not accustomed to making things up. Many people tell me "It's amazing how that mind of your's works." But it was a chore to develop a process and force myself to be able to create characters, events, details, moods and personalities from scratch. That's why Sons and Daughters of the Ocean draws from a lot of my own experiences. I'll be able to go through the novel and pick out various characters or instances that are based on actual people or occurences. More on that later.
To force myself to write wasn’t easy either. That’s what I do every day. I often crank out at least five stories per week, if not more. When I have down time and put my slightly overactive mind to rest, the last thing I want to do is force it to write.
Eventually, I managed to find a way to create a writing mood and got myself in the frame of mind to pluck away at this story. Little by little it would progress. There were times I lost interest or couldn’t find the time. There was one point where I went an entire year without touching this story or even thinking about it. There were times I almost scrapped one of the characters or a story line but didn’t.
Of course, then there was my continuous attempt to tinker and fix and rewrite and redo and meddle and critique. I honestly still don’t know whether this is any good or not. I learned a lot about the process of writing, and I was a better fiction writer by the end of this endeavor than I was a the beginning. So much so that I often contemplated starting the whole thing over again and starting anew, utilizing the skills I’ve developed. But I figured I wouldn’t actually change all that much and instead stuck to my incessant tinkering and meddling until I finally got so tired of working on it, that I decided it was time to get it published.
Now the proof copy sits in my hand. At one time I realized that if I had just one copy published, that would meet my goal. I wouldn’t even have to have anybody else read it.
But, deep down, I want people to read it. I don’t know whether people will become engrossed in the characters and the story. I don't know whether people will be rivetted and be unable to put it down. I hope so. but we’ll see. Readers can at least be entertained by some of the various things I put in for fun. More on that later.
I'm glad this process is nearly over. I've spent many years thinking about and working on this story. I'm excited about this project being nearly completed and am excited about the others I can devote my attention to.
I have my book Sidelined destined to be done later this year while Sea of Liberty is being written. I might even finish that in less than a decade. I hope so. I've already got two other story ideas for novels to follow it. One of which could be a sequel to this novel (but isn't about sailing).
I'll post more info and details about Sons and Daughters of the Ocean on my webpage (www.kevincmills.com) once it is up and running. The book should be on sale in the coming weeks. I'm hoping this morning was the last tinkering I am to do on it. Well, at least until I'm working on the screenplay for the Hollywood movie version.
