Some of you may have noticed by now that I don’t talk a lot about how to write. While I may have authored several bestselling novels, I can tell you that I am not an expert in writing. I couldn’t teach a class on it, and I wouldn’t presume to know more about creativity than anyone out there. Frankly, it amazes me when I read about other authors whose only credentials are that they have written several great books, giving classes on writing. I’m not faulting them, I’m not even questioning their intentions, and I am sure that they are helping some people, but what makes them experts?
I have trained and studied and worked hard to achieve my position in the professional world. I’ve had to take so many tests and do so many projects to prove that I know my stuff that I cannot even remember them all. I think that’s the point, writing books is not the same as taking a test unless you count endurance as a test. Enduring endless rejections, and writer’s block being just two of the types of tests.
I give credit to my daughters and sons for their achievements. Some went through college and came out the other end with knowledge and experience that they share, some learned through the school of hard-knocks or by apprenticeship. All are fighters and good at what they do but are smart enough to know that they are by no means the ‘top expert’ in their fields.
So, if you are an author or someone that wants to be an author I have a couple of pieces of advice for you. Go ahead and take a course or two but take them with a grain of salt. The person teaching the class cannot show you what made them a success because in the world of writing too much of it is being in the right place at the right time.
The second piece of advice is don’t give up. It took me nearly fifty years to bring out the story that had always been inside of me and turn it into a novel. As I used to tell my self-defense students, if I can do it, you can do it better. You can, it’s all in there waiting to come out and be shared with the world.
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