Made It Moment: Thomas Knight
I met today’s author, Thomas Knight, during a writing contest, which became an important part of both our writer’s journeys–although neither of us won nor even advanced particularly far. That’s what I love about this writing world. Often it’s not the door we were banging on the hardest that opens, admitting us to someplace wonderful. Happy birthday to Thomas (yes, today is his birthday) and happy birthyear to his novel, THE TIME WEAVER. Thomas has forged his own path as a writer–and perhaps ultimately that’s the deepest form of making it there is.
I’m not a writer.
But I’m different from most people. I strive to challenge myself. I seek out ways to break out of my comfort zone. I march to the beat of my own drummer, because what better way is there to ensure you’re listening to the right music?
I wrote The Time Weaver as a personal challenge. I spent almost twenty years telling myself I couldn’t do it. Little did I know, the only thing holding me back was me. 100,000 words is a lot of words, especially for somebody who is not quite as tuned in to the English language as the average person. I’ll admit it, while I was scoring straight A’s in every other subject, I was a C-student in English studies.
So I wrote it. Edited it. Edited it again. Had a friend edit it. Had my wife edit it. Edited it again. Man was this a long journey. And finally, a year after I started writing my first book, I self published it, and joined the ranks of many thousands of other indie authors out there. And how did I fare? Did I make it?
I sell more than the average indie author, but not enough to say I have fantastic sales. My Amazon sales rank appears to have fallen into the nosebleed section as of late. But what is the true test? How do you gauge if you’ve truly “made it” or not?
Reviews. That was my test. All the sales in the world don’t matter to me if people aren’t enjoying it. I want people to read it, yes, but I want them to enjoy it as well. Because what are authors but entertainers?
I received an unsolicited review the other day, from a fairly well-ranked reviewer: “Many times I made false assumptions where the story was headed and was pleasantly surprised right up to the end. … The story is constantly moving forward with a breath-taking pace.” I’m still reeling from what was one of the best reviews I’ve ever gotten. He bought it. He read it. He enjoyed it.
Mission Accomplished: I made it.
Thomas A. Knight has spent most of his life either immersed in or building fantasy worlds and bringing characters to life.
From Middle Earth, to the skies of Pern and beyond, no world is too great a challenge for him to conquer. His favorite places include a pair of worlds that spawned from his own imagination, one of perpetual light, and one of perpetual darkness.
When he is not living a life in one of these worlds, he is a husband, father of two little girls, software developer, and avid role-player. He grew up and currently resides in a small town in Ontario, Canada. He works as a software developer at one of the world’s leading vinyl siding manufacturers.