A secret about
Writing and Wings

When I started writing the story of Gwinna, I thought it would be a short fairytale. Just something simple. Hah! You never know what's ahead.

The story had more to tell, and more, and more. I kept trying to keep it short. But it wanted to be long. I read it to my friends in my writing group. They said, “Barbara, this sounds like a novel.”

“No,” I said, “please don't say the N word!” I was afraid of novels. My friends had written them, good ones too. But I had seen how much work it is, what a long road to walk. I always thought, “I'll never do that. I can't. I don't want to. I don't know how.”

But the story wanted to have chapters. “Well ok, but it's not a novel. It's just a long story.”

The thing is, the story is about a girl who has wings and does not know it. She has to find her wings, and learn how to fly. And she does. She then sets off on her own quest, and little by little, she gains abilities and powers she never imagined she could have.

Gwinna was my teacher! She was finding her wings, and so was I. Gwinna had help along the way, and so did I. My writing friends and my editor gave me helpful suggestions. I wrote and revised and re-wrote the whole book three times. I learned a lot and I worked very hard.

It was true, Gwinna isn't really a novel. But it is a chapter book, a long fantasy-fairytale. I had to find my own new writing wings to do that.

I think this kind of thing happens to all of us. It happens in different ways, and not just one time but all through our lives. We find our wings, invisible wings we never knew we had.

Detail from Gwinna, p.56