{"id":40891,"date":"2023-03-06T06:30:53","date_gmt":"2023-03-05T17:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=40891"},"modified":"2023-03-05T19:58:59","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T06:58:59","slug":"inside-the-writing-life-the-pilot-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2023\/03\/06\/inside-the-writing-life-the-pilot-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside The Writing Life: The Pilot Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toward the end of Daughter of Blood<\/em><\/strong> (The Wall Of Night<\/strong><\/a> #3)there\u2019s a point where the Sea House\u2019s pilot star gets mentioned:<\/p>\n

\"daughter-of-blood-by-helen-lowe\"

USA<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cNimor stopped, intent on the solitary star that could be seen through the Gray Lands\u2019 cloud. \u201cThe pilot\u2019s star,\u201d he said softly, as even the wyr hounds turned their silver eyes skyward, following his gaze. No one spoke, but Faro knew they all understood that Nimor had not expected to see it again.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

The Sea House are mariners and navigators—and Nimor their envoy to the rest of the Derai Alliance—so their pilot star is like the Pole Star in this world: an important navigational aid and way of determining \u201ctrue north.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar to \u201ctrue north\u201d, the pilot star has an emotional and spiritual connotation, as well as a physical meaning.<\/p>\n

(Faro, for any that don\u2019t know, is an orphan caught up in the preceding traumatic events.)<\/p>\n

\"\"

UK\/AU\/NZ<\/p><\/div>\n

In the approximately eighteen months between completing writing Daughter of Blood<\/em><\/a> and the book being published, I was asked to identify: \u201cThe most important lesson you have learned in the process of becoming and <\/em>being<\/em> a published author?\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Given the question\u2019s connotations and Daughter<\/em> being very much on my mind at the time, it may not surprise you that \u201cpilot star\u201d featured in my answer:<\/p>\n

“Just this: it\u2019s the story that matters. It\u2019s your only pilot star.<\/em>“<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

I hope my meaning may be self-explanatory, but what I was thinking of was the often long, solitary (so yes, sometimes lonely!) slog of writing a book in the first place, and then getting it through production and into the world.<\/p>\n

Even then, once writing, production, and publication are all a \u201cwrap\u201d, there is no assurance of fair winds and following seas\u2014sales may not be steady, reviews may be hard to come by and not all will be favourable, so building a readership may prove proverbially tough.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Production: first-pass-proof manuscript<\/p><\/div>\n

So what I was—and am still—saying is that it\u2019s vital a writer feel passionate and positive about the story they\u2019re telling, because it\u2019s only that passion, commitment, and love of the work itself that will keep the project on course and get the author through the rough patches.<\/p>\n

I would go further and say that in my (potentially misguided! :D) view it\u2019s all any author can truly rely upon, since everything else is either ephemeral or outside our control, or both.<\/p>\n

\"\"

In lieu of road & other maps, a pilot star may be all one has…<\/p><\/div>\n

*~*<\/p>\n

Previous Bulletins From\u00a0Inside The Writing Life<\/em>:<\/strong><\/h3>\n