The Write Stuff

In the past couple of months I've received several emails and a couple of phone calls from friends and colleagues who essentially want to know: "I've got an idea for a book or an article: how can I get it published?"

Now, as far as my own experience when I was nineteen years old, say, or twenty-five, and was posing these same questions to more experienced writers, I would always get the brush off. Most everyone I approached--authors, agents, editors, publishers . . .anyone who was actually "inside" the publishing world--brushed me aside. I can think of a few exceptions, but for the most part, the attitude was: "If you don't know how to do it, leave me the flip alone!"

I hope I've fared much better than this when it comes to helping and giving what little advice I have. And so I'm writing this blog for all of those who have written to me.

In fact, I've learned that this is one of my greatest pleasures: helping someone find a successful outlet for his/her work, or reviewing a manuscript, or just talking on the telephone with someone who is frustrated for lack of response from an editor. I've been there many times. I'm still there. And I love supporting people who are out there trying to write for enjoyment or for money.

I really don't have much successful advice to give to people (especially for someone who needs income), but after eighteen books and a few hundred published articles and essays, I know I've learned a few things about what works, and what doesn't work, and what publishing involves . . . and I really don't want to keep those experiences to myself. Everything in the publishing world is changing very rapidly now, and I'm still learning, too. In fact, a writer must continually reinvent himself/herself constantly. A writer must find the new idea, the new voice, the new slant . . . and then work like hell to make it the best.

And that's why I always begin with that bit of advice first, and these questions: How hard are you willing to work? Because writing is work. And it's going to take a lot of time, concentration, and energy. And writing is a solitary pursuit. How secure are you within your own skin? Can you work while everyone else is asleep? Can you rise before everyone else is awake? Can you sit in silence for hours on end and just listen to your own heart beat? Can you work on something for weeks, months, even years without the slightest possibility of success and still sit down over a pot of coffee and write even more? Can you do this year after year after year? Is it your life?

If you can do these things . . . then YOU are a writer, my friend. And eventually, count on it . . . if you perfect your craft, you will succeed. Because one thing I've learned, too. There is still a demand for writers in a world where most people cannot write well. And believe me, most people cannot write well. Most people can scarcely write at all. So just keep writing, and working, and the chips will fall.

And don't forget this definition of a writer: A writer is someone who WRITES!