Sydney Sheldon

Life is like a Novel

Sydney Sheldon is the most famous dramatic/suspense novel writer of 20^th century. He is also film, TV & stage show/drama writer and winner of an Oscar. Sydney’s own life was a pure drama, pooerst at one stage & Billionaire at another. Sydney wrote his first novel at the age of 53 when people start planning for retirement. It was a big flop, he didn’t give up, wrote another which turned out to be a great success. He considered life as a Novel, you never know what happens next until you turn the next page. Never Stop, never quit, was his message. Read a snapshot from his interesting autobiography:

The crowded hotel hall was full book lovers. A famous New York publisher had invited three writers to sign their new books for buyers. There were long queues in front of two authors but the third one was sitting alone. Not even a single buyer for him. It was quite embarrassing and humiliating for him. Hours passed but no one turned up to him. “May I take your autograph please!” an old leady approached him softly. Jumping out of his chair eagerly, he took the book, wrote a nice sentence & signed it. “So what did you like in my novel?” he enquired excitedly.  The lady smiled tenderly & responded, “Son you were sitting alone, I felt sympathetic and hence bought your book.”

With broken heart, he returned to his hotel and kept awake all night. After hours of deliberation he decided to give up on novel writing. It is not me; I should stick to my previous activities of TV & stage drama writing, he concluded. Feeling calm now, he turned to his bed. Looking out of the window he noticed sunlight slowly taking away darkness. Suddenly it reminded him of his own writing “every dark night has to finish & bright day has to arrive, instead of frightening from the dark, just think it is only few moments before the Morning!”  He left the bed instantly and started writing his next novel.

Disappointed from his first novel, it was Sydney Sheldon, the most famous fiction/suspense navel writer of 20^th century. He wrote 17 novels, which are sold in access of 370 million and translated into 51 languages. He was born in 1917 in USA and passed away in 2007. Sydney’s life was full of drama. At the age of 17 he decided to end his life due to bad financial situation. He was about to swallow sleeping pills when his father arrived.  He counselled Sydney wisely that I do not intend to stop you from suicide. I will only say that:

“You don’t know what can happen tomorrow. Life is like a novel. It’s filled with suspense. You never know what’s going to happen until you turn the page. I am sorry to hear that you want to suicide. By this you will only miss on the opportunities & excitements that are due to follow in the next chapter. Remember, you can decide to close this book [of life] anytime but once closed this book can never be opened again.”

This sentence changed Sydney’s life forever. He decided to labour hard from that day onward and never give up. Sydney worked as factory worker, shoe salesman, radio announcer & hawker. Though he could not succeed much, Sydney didn’t stop. He came to New York to work on radio & TV. Slowly moving into film-writing, he wrote many mediocre films. Then his film “The Bachelor & the Bobby-Soxer” released in 1947 turned out to be box office hit, earning him the top-most award of Oscar in script writing! He became famous. Sydney was offered to write & direct a movie “Dream Wife” for the renowned MGM Studios. The producer was the head of MGM himself. Unfortunately, the film got negative publicity from some of the press. As a result MGM’s head released the movie as a low profile to save his name. Sydney resigned in protest. He remained out of work for many months. He ran low on money, so much so that he once had to borrow $50 from his own servant. Again, his next movie blasted the box office again, rocketing to the top!

Same ups & downs followed Sydney in stage dramas also. He made a low budget drama at New York Broadway Theatre which ran for many months. Yet, his next musical drama, the most expensive opera in New York’s history, flopped that it didn’t last for a week.

By 1970, Sydney was 53 years old. He had written successful stage dramas, won Oscar and was watched on TV by millions across USA. There was yet another dramatic chapter due to begin in his life.  He decided to write a novel. Five publishers rejected his novel. At last one accepted it for only $1000. On opening ceremony he sat in the hall along other two writers to sell their books. Not even a single person bought Sydney’s book except that old lady who did so out of mercy. Did Sydney give up? No, he wrote yet another novel “The Other Side of Midnight”. It was a big hit and sold in millions.   He became millionaire? No, Billionaire actually! Sydney kept on writing novels for the next 27 years, only to become the most famous suspense writer. In his own words:

“Life is like a lift, it goes up & down. If you are in crisis, assume you are at the bottom, but be sure it will go up. The secret of success is that Never Quit the lift!”.

On another occasion Sydney wrote:

“Don’t give up. There are too many nay-sayers out there who will try to discourage you. Don’t listen to them. The only one who can make you give up is yourself.”

So friends, choice is yours, quit, or Stand-up for yourself.

“You have two choices. You can keep running & hiding and blaming the world for your problems, or you can Stand Up for Yourself and decide to be Somebody important.”

The End..