Great Accomplishments

Seems to me one of my greatest accomplishments in life will ever be the fact that I have read War and Peace. As if that took months of practice, or hours of muscle building, or years in school. All told, it probably took out only 30 hours of my life over a month-long period. But when I get around people who spout off their great achievements, it's the one thing that comes to mind. Perhaps I should put it on my epitaph: "Here lies Melissa Sturm. She read War and Peace".

And although War and Peace is a great book which I thoroughly enjoyed, the most interesting thing about it is Tolstoy wasn't completely satisfied. A master writer, the author of great works of literature...and he wasn't satisfied? He wanted to rewrite it. All well over a thousand pages. By hand. I remember thinking, "Good grief. If Tolstoy can't be happy with a work like War and Peace, my books will never be good enough to publish. Ever."

Really good writers are hard to come by. I'm not talking successful. Or rich. Or popular. I'm saying GOOD. Good writing, good content, good characters, good morals. Which may mean success, and wealth, and popularity (every writer's dream...). Like Brian Jacques. The author of the popular Redwall series. I was sad to discover he passed away this past winter. No more grand adventures of sword-swinging mice, and food-guzzling hares, and fierce-paddling shrews. But his books will live on. My brother has read almost all of them a dozen times. I will finish my collection, continue to suggest them to boys of all ages, and - Lord willing - pass them on to my own sons and nephews one day. Then they can sharpen sticks into spears and chase away pirating rats from their backyards. Eulalia!

All this to say, maybe it's about time I humbly mentioned an accomplishment. No, I didn't read War and Peace a second time. And even though I've met Brian Jacques and have his autograph in my favorite book of his, I'm not well on my way to penning a story on funny-talking moles. But I do have a book. A published book. A self-published book. Which actually has my name on it and my words in it.

I can't remember if I blogged a couple of years ago about a woman my mother met at our library in New Hampshire. A little woman named Mrs. Norma Harris who was attempting to read a document I wish my family possessed - discharge papers from her husband's great-great grandfather who fought in the Civil War. One thing led to another and before a month was gone, I was helping Mrs. Harris write a book based upon her family and the letters this Civil War vet had written home. A year later, the book was written. A year after that...Mrs. Harris decided self-publication was the way to go. My computer "expertise" came in with this. But she is the one who has made this ball roll since. While anyone who knows my name is written on a published book found out almost by accident, she keeps her trunk full of them and makes sells at art shows, doctor's offices and grocery stores. Libraries have asked her to come sign their copies, reading groups want her to come speak and last week a college history prof asked if she would come speak to his class a few times. That, I confess, has left me a bit envious!

So, there you have it. You can even check it out on Barnes and Noble or Amazon. Just type in my name and you'll find it: Extraordinary Times and Everyday Lives. And yet even with that, the first thing that still comes to mind when speaking of accomplishments is that I've read War and Peace. But who knows. Maybe over a hundred years ago when standing at a Russian banquet and listening to great men talk about their accomplishments, Tolstoy sipped his champagne and thought, "Well, I've read Don Quixote." And with that, he's still one ahead of me!