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Published on Thursday, July 29, 2010 by Mark W. Worthen
Many years ago, as a newly minted adult, I stood in line for a certain writer’s signature. It’s a common thing. Many of us want our favorite authors to sign our books, particularly the ones we enjoyed or read time after time. My beloved copies of Ender’s Game and The Fellowship of the Ring are pretty hammered from many readings.
And I’ve always been a bit o...
Published on Monday, June 21, 2010 by Mark W. Worthen
One of the questions people ask me quite often is, “How do I know if I’m a real writer?” One hears three frequent answers to this question. The first answer is, “You’re a writer if you say you’re a writer.”
I’ve given this answer to a lot of people, and recently, too. Until today, I subscribed to this philosophy. I used to cite Shakespeare, who said...
Published on Friday, April 30, 2010 by Mark W. Worthen
Last time, I talked about siting down and writing whether you're in the mood or not. I expected several of you to post comments or email me privately asking exactly how do we take Pearl Buck's advice and train our minds to get down to work.
Nobody asked, it, so, hell. I will. It's a fair question, and deserves consideration. So let's take a look.
Let's take this...
Published on Thursday, April 15, 2010 by Mark W. Worthen
Ever since I was little, there are certain days or times when I just feel like writing. I don’t necessarily have an idea or direction at the time, I just sit down at the computer, and say, “Okay, what can I write?” Nowadays, with commitments for novels, screenplays, stories and articles looming to the distant horizon, I rarely have that problem. Now it’s more ...
Published on Thursday, April 8, 2010 by Mark W. Worthen
All writers are different.
I think that’s a pretty safe thing to say. Yes, we share the common obsession, perhaps even need, to put words down on paper for others to read. In fact, some people say we’re a pretty arrogant breed. “Hey, I wrote this. For ten bucks you can read what I wrote.” If you think about it, we may have self-esteem issues.
But that’...
Published on Friday, March 26, 2010 by Michael Stevens
February 28, 2008
Date: 22 feb 08
From: bookgirl2@comcast.net
To: mike@strategicwriting.com
Dear Kimberley (and Elizabeth!),
Many thanks for sending Mike Stevens's ms. Original, indeed! But I have to be honest: the story just wasn't for me in the end.
But we will keep trying, of course!
Best,
Sally
Sally Kim
Harper Collins
* * *
Date: 27 feb 08
...
Published on Thursday, March 25, 2010 by Mark W. Worthen
I write early in the morning.
Really, I do. My alarm goes off at 5:30 in the morning, and I sit up in bed, grab my laptop and go.
But it would be so easy not to, wouldn’t it?
I take my shower in the evening and lay out my clothes and my breakfast constitutes a protein shake. So I really don’t have to get up until about 6:45. When my alarm goes off, I coul...
Published on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 by Michael Stevens
February 20, 2008
Thanks to the San Francisco Writers’ Conference, I am gradually getting a sense of what it takes to sell a book, and I am astonished at how much depends on the random impulses of a very small group: two or three dozen women who want to fall in love.
This is the terminology several of the acquisition editors attending the SFWC actually use on ...
Published on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 by Michael Stevens
February 16, 2008
Jennifer Enderlin of St. Martin’s Press is addressing the conference, and for me, it’s like that Russian video game where differently-shaped geometrical shapes fall out of the sky and you have to maneuver the shapes that have already hit the ground so that the new ones fall neatly into place. Suddenly, it all fits together. She is primarily ta...
Published on Saturday, March 20, 2010 by Michael Stevens
November 9, 2007
A brief digression. When you make your living as a creative director, you get used to clients wrecking your work. The depth of their misguidedness has never failed to astonish me. Again and again, I’ve seen companies act against their own best interest, insisting on headlines, graphics and strategies that could never work, and in the process, rej...
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