Being an author has its price.
While ‘writing a book’ ranks among the top 10 on people’s bucket lists, only few actually do it, even if it has been their dream for decades of their lives.
What is it, that makes ‘being an author’ so extremely hard, even apart from the technical writing-struggles?
And coupled to this question: How come most people don’t start writing until later in life?

The answer may well be that it takes an almost painful amount of self awareness and self honesty as well as an uncensored eye for reality, to write fiction.
Even in the most romantic novels, the broad shouldered dark-haired blue-eyed heroes and hour-glass-shaped heroines with shining auburn hair, need to go through their quest first, in order to finally find each others lips and live happily ever after. No story gets away with a shallow storyline

Rule number one for authors, be it for books or screenplays, is to be able to touch people’s hearts with what is written. Some part of the content must be a recognizable truth; an inconvenient truth at times, one often kept hidden deep down inside, but in any case a truth that stirs the Soul.
If such a revelation is not there, the audience is not able to relate to the story.

A bad book is like a bad lie; something one sees through in an instant and feels betrayed by.
In that sense to be an author takes a considerable amount of courage, for it doesn’t allow any patchwork or ‘getting it over with’
While many people’s lives evolve on what the outside world expects of them and do what is required;
only a smaller percentage follows an inner truth.

Take a look into your own life (don’t worry, nobody but you can see you) and find what dream you have left unattended, while using time and space to meet demands of the outside world instead.
It takes guts and a certain amount of self-regard (which in most societies is seen as ‘improper’ or ‘vain’) to take the time and create the space to ponder on the quest called life.
And from personal experience I’ve found that ‘writers block’ is often paired with a ‘personal development block’ in reality.

It might well be why Anne Marie Martin felt she was ‘only living with a body’, for during Crichton’s writing spurs his dedication was with himself.
This doesn’t mean authors can’t be married or have families. What it does mean at times is to let the author’s need to nourish the writers heart come first.
In that sense, being an author comes at a price, with little regard for leisure time, idleness, white lies or other excuses. Those willing to pay that price however, do get their reward in fulfillment and personal development.
Basically what authors do is mirror their own quests on their characters, which can only be done, when one is willing to go out on a limb.

Ingrid Schippers, May 17 2015

I had ordered the two books together, because someone had told me that an advertising method of Amazon is to say…”People who ordered this book, also ordered… “ so I was hoping Bloodlines -TNtC. would pop up as an ‘also’ with people ordering Micro.

It wasn’t just a cheap trick to get attention to our novel, by surfing along on the fame of a big author.  Michael Crichton has been my big example ever since I accidentally discovered his autobiography, “Travels”. When I first saw Travels in a second hand book shop in Singapore, and read on the front cover: “by the author of Jurassic Park”, I was surprised as I never knew somebody had actually written Jurassic Park. I thought it was a product of Steven Spielberg’s imagination who had ‘some scriptwriter’ write the screenplay.

After reading “Travels” which was, for more reasons than I can explain in one blog, a life changing experience, I sought out Michael Crichton on the web and discovered he was also responsible for the television series E.R. and many other great books like Rising Sun, Disclosure and Timeline that were put into movies.

I also discovered Michael Crichton’s website held a message board. For about two years I stalked this message board, watching all the discussion that went on about MC’s work, meanwhile reading each and every book by Michael Crichton I could find in the world’s library.

When ‘State of Fear” was published I finally became bold, registered and placed my first post on the MC message board. It took me three days to write it, edit it, delete it, rewrite it, re-edit it and finally post it. It was to be the first post of the 395 still visible posts on the MC message board that I made to this day. Maybe, when I also post this blog, it will turn to 396. According to the websites members list, I’m heading the number of posts listed, preceding the number two with 90 posts.

I became infatuated with Michael Crichton. Not just because he was an extremely attractive man, but also because, in my opinion he had a prophetic- and the brightest author’s mind, I ever encountered. Posting on the MC Message board was like going to Authors University. Dissecting his books the way ‘us Crichtonians’ did on the board and discussing the themes ‘us Crichtonians’ discussed, the forum brought me the need to perfect my use of the English language, the necessity to think deeper than I normally would about the process of writing and dredged me out of my own degrading belief that “I could never be an author”. With Crichton anything was possible.

I also met people on the board that became great friends. One of them Oleg L.Gubarev, even made me travel to St Petersburg Russia, as we had been compiling a book about our experiences on the MC message board, titled “Soul Searching”. Two people, from totally different cultures and backgrounds who basically only had one thing in common: their love for Michael Crichton’s works.

We were about to publish ‘Soul Searching’ when MC passed away on November 4^th in 2008, a devastating experience for his ardent fans. I’m not ashamed to say I still mourn MC to this day.

So… that’s why it was so special for me to receive two books in one Amazon parcel; Micro and Bloodlines-TNtC.

The significance of it hadn’t dawned on me at first when I ordered both novels. MC’s book had been released 22.11.11, ours 11.11.11. It just seemed like a golden opportunity to get a ‘also ordered’ recommendation on Amazon. (which never happened by the way)

But when I opened the parcel today and found myself staring at two new releases, one co-authored by MC and Preston and one by McKerley & Schippers, the significance of it blew me away.

It is thanks to Michael Crichton that those two books ended up in the same parcel. MC has educated and inspired me to heights I cannot describe. He was an exceptional human being and I am forever grateful.

Ingrid Schippers