Regrets and Opportunities

This past week the writing community lost a beloved mentor and author. David Wolverton Farland was introduced to me by my husband while we were dating. It was one of those dating things you do where you trade books to show different tastes and whatnot, and my husband offered up Runelords to me.

Needless to say, I loved the book. It was creative and interesting and I loved the magic system he built.

Flash forward several years and I came to a place as an author where I recognized I was missing something in my craft. My husband learned Mr. Farland had a writing class and encouraged me to check it out. I found My Story Doctor and the Apex Writer’s Group and took several of his classes and my writing most certainly improved. While I could never afford the larger packages, he had something affordable for even me.

My regret is that I was never able to work with him directly.

Sure, I got to learn from his recorded classes, but I didn’t get the one-one-one that I know several others have benefited from. Even without meeting him, though, he impacted how I approached my writing. And I will be forever grateful for that.

From the moment I learned of his passing I have struggled with a way to honor him. His family were gracious through their heartbreak, sharing the memorial remotely to those lives Mr. Farland had touched far and wide. It has been humbling to watch just how many people have stepped forward with testimonies of his encouragement and instruction, and I daresay we will never have another teacher like him.

In my meager attempt to honor him somehow, I picked up one of his books – Million Dollar Outlines.

I hadn’t gotten to that one in his classes, mostly because I struggle to finish a book if I have completed a full outline up front. Imagine my entertainment when he addresses that very problem in the first pages of the book? And my pleasure that the mini-outline I have come to embrace, where I only outline a couple of chapters ahead while drafting, was one that he himself used.

While I did not get to meet him personally, he affected my life and my writing and I will be forever grateful. His books are still out there, his instruction recorded, and I suspect he will be impacting lives and careers long into the future.

Thank you, Mr. Farland.