THE ULTIMATE TRUTH

Entry No. 3

Melvin decided to become a writer. The idea crossed his mind one day when his phonepal told him that he "could catch words in the air and make sense out of nonsense". Yes, he had a phonepal. On the long wait for the morning, Melvin found it an easy escape to talk to strangers on the phone. He met this girl who refused to reveal her real name. Instead, they created code names to hide who they really were. Melvin laughed at himself for he was acting like a teen-ager.

Being the impulsive person that he had become, he bought a computer and started to "scribble" words in the word processor. He liked it. He discovered in him an innate passion to write. It was a practical choice as he himself though. Most of his life, he typed things for other people and wrote letters that did not appeal to him. Besides, he can now put his ideas into his work plus the freedom to say what he wanted.

It was an easy task for him. All he had to do was to connect things and make some sense on how they are linked. He no longer felt the restrictions that he grew accustomed in his old life. His ideas were from observing people and making a stories out of them. With this at hand, he set out with his new goal, which is to create his first novel.

Things were happening so fast that on the fourth Friday that Melvin and Mark met, Mark's reaction came with a question. He said, "So now you're a writer. I wonder what you'll turn up next time we meet." But Melvin wasn't really listening. He was walking towards the dancefloor. His bestfriend's face stared in disbelief.

The first few months flew and by this time, Melvin had the first draft of his novel. It was about an ordinary person given extraordinary twists in life. The title was "The Spring Lies Eternal." It wasn't much, not really literature per se. But what made him satisfied was the
contentment he had while writing his book. Being a neophyte in the publishing industry, he hired an old lawyer he knew back at his office days. He wasn't really worried whether it would be published or not. For him, his part had been done. Now it's time to write another book.

But in just two weeks, he could not believe that some publisher actually took notice of his work. His attorney called him up so that they could arrange a meeting with the publisher. Even the negotiations were simple enough. His lawyer, who acts as his agent,
would oversee the royalties and other details he did not care to find out. There were just one if waiting to be answered. And that would be - if the book would sell.

The funny thing was, the publisher and his lawyer seemed to be more excited than Melvin. He just took everything in stride. For him, the real pleasure lies in writing, the rest are just details. So after two months, the book hit the market with a surprisingly warm welcome. On this event of his life, he never expected it but things would really take a huge turn.