About two years ago I purchased three books on writing. The other two are long forgotten, but I still keep Making a Literary Life by Carolyn See close at hand. Her book contained at least three pieces of advice that I found very useful. They are write a thousand words a day; make a list of what you want out of your literary life; and interact with others already living a literary life.
Write a thousand words a day, five days a week for the rest of your life. Unless you do research or are doing rewrites. That is her dogma, and it seems to work for her. I also found it works for me. At a thousand words a day, you get an article or short story in a week. But you have to do it consistently. The most important thing about being a writer is to write. Set time aside from each day, and write. You can’t be a writer if you don’t write.
The second nugget I mined from her book was – make a list of what you want out of your literary life. Do you want independence from an eight to five job? Do you want a chauffeur? Do you want to travel? Envision what you want and work towards it. This advice made me sit down and design some goals to strive towards.
The third piece of advice from Carolyn was to write a charming note a week. Once a week write an author, a publisher, or an agent, and just say hello. Don’t ask for anything, just introduce yourself and say “hello.” Sometimes they even write back. This area I have not completely followed through with, but I have written a couple of notes. To my surprise, I have even gotten replies. While I have not written many notes, I live in an area that has numerous activities with authors. These activities include book signings, lectures, conferences, book awards and book festivals. I make a point to attend as many as I can, and talk to the authors in attendance. Carolyn offers some good advice on ways to get noticed. Well worth the cost of the book.
In addition to these nuggets, she also includes a section on actually doing the writing. She discusses the parts of the story – character, plot, point of view, setting, and rewrites. She presents this information in a much better format and entertaining way than the “how to books on writing” that I threw away. Even though you write your thousand words a day, there a certain basics you have to have and know to make your work understandable.
The last part of the book – During and after – deals with being a successful writer. You may think doing the writing is the hard part, and getting published can be difficult. But you also have to get people to buy your book, and Carolyn gives a few pointers on marketing that make her book valuable.
Additional advice Carolyn provides includes – live the literary life. Hang out with people that like writers. Hang out with writers. More than likely the area you live in has a community of writers. Lastly, surround yourself with supportive people.
I found Making a Literary Life extremely helpful. Carolyn See offers some great advice while providing an entertaining read. It is a mainstay in my collection.
BGS 6/6/2008
|