PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
November 23, 2001
John
Snyder says strangers seek him out to talk about how his Christmas book touched
them.
It
happens every time John Snyder visits a bookstore to promote his Christmas
novel, “The Golden Ring”. Somebody
has driven a long distance just to let him know how much his book means to him
or her.
“People
tell me how the book has specifically touched them, whether it was because of a
circumstance in their family or something else,” Snyder says.
“They’re really forthcoming with their emotions.”
“It’s
kind of eerie in a way, but it moves me. It
really is gratifying in a way to know that total strangers are willing to share
their most intimate secrets about their emotions.
That seems to be the most striking thing to me.
What
is most unusual is that Snyder never thought about writing a book until a
winter’s day a few years ago. Driving
with his family, he had a sudden urge to visit his grandmother in LaVale, MD,
which meant driving north instead of south on a dreary, foggy day.
When
he got to his grandmother’s house and sat down to a cup of coffee and a plate
of leftover Christmas cookies, his life began to change.
His grandmother.
Was
wearing a “stunning ring of gold” he’d never seen before.
Approximately
2 ½ hours later, he’d heard the tale that would become “The Golden Ring”.
“I’ve
always like to sit down and talk to older people,” he says.
“And from time to time, I would sit down with my grandmother and ask
her things, ask her what it was like when she was growing up, or how she met my
grandfather.”
When
Snyder heard the story of his grandmother’s childhood in Meyersdale, Somerset
County, her generosity and the ring, he knew he had a gem of a story.
He
had been a parole officer, real estate agent and bounty hunter; at the time he
was the president of his own marketing firm.
He knew it was time to try something else.
“I
can honestly say I has never experienced anything like the emotional
satisfaction I got from the experience of writing the book,” he says.
“It was very fulfilling, and that’s what kept me going.
This is a tough business.”
Initially,
Snyder’s attempts to publish the book were met with indifference by an
industry saturated with Christmas fare. But
Snyder so believed in his slim volume (it’s a mere 181 pages) that he printed
5,000 copies on his own.
The
one thing Snyder did know was how to market his product.
Slowly, via word-of-mouth and his indefatigable efforts, the story of a
young girl who gives away her most precious possession, a golden ring, caught
on.
For
Snyder, there are many lessons in the book.
Especially important to him is the idea of communicating with loved ones.
“I
think sometimes we’re not free with our innermost thoughts,” he says.
“We all want to do it, but there’s something holding us back.
I lost my father a few years ago, and there are times I wanted to have
those deep conversations with him. But
sometimes there’s something in us that’s afraid.”
Time
Warner bought the rights to the book and published it this year, giving it wider
distribution. Akin to the movie
“Fields of Dreams,” people come and seek out Snyder without really knowing
why. He’s written it and they
have come to the book, literally, from all over.
“The
other day, I got an e-mail from Switzerland,” he says.
“A couple, by accident, was at a mall in Salisbury, Md.
They got lost and were trying to find their way to some folks they were
visiting, saw my book, and bought it. They
wrote and told me how much the book has touched them.”
Writing
is more or less Snyder’s life’s’ work now, as he’s given up most of his
work at his marketing firm. Among
his projects is a movie deal for his first book, and two more novels.
But “The Golden Ring” always will be first in his heart.
“This
book will always be special,” he says. “I
want to make it a classic, like something by Dickens or “It’s a Wonderful
Life.” That’s what I want to
do.”
“It’s kind of eerie in a way, but it moves me. It really is gratifying in a way to know that total strangers are willing to share their most intimate secrets about their emotions.”
It’s
a small world
Meyersdale
is Somerset County is a small, sleep village, one of those rare places in
America where time crawls instead of flies.
It’s the perfect setting for author John Snyder’s “The Golden
Ring” and not only because it’s a tale of Christmas past.
It
seems everywhere Snyder goes, he meets someone who was reared in or has
relatives or knows someone from Meyersdale.
“I’ve
run into people in Birmingham, Ala., from Meyersdale,” Snyder says with a
laugh, noting that he recently met Meyersdale natives in Hagerstown, Md., and
Washington, D.C.
“It’s
just amazing to me; it happens no matter where I go. You’d think it was a city of 6 million, not a small town.
“But
it makes me feel good,” he adds. “It
says that people lake a certain amount of pride in the area.”