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a half-dozen guys I have met. He is a well- loved author, however, because people can relate to him. Stephen King says he writes about the things that scare him. Now there is an admission to being human that I can relate to.
Here is an exercise for you. Go to your local library. Go to the new book section were the best-selling books are shelved. Now pick up a book and look for a picture of the author. This can be an eye-opening experience. And remember this, the pictures that you find are usually done with a professional photographer.

Authors look like everyone else, with the exception of just a few. Take yourself to Glamour Shots and they can make you look pretty good.

Writers have that special spark.
Okay, I do believe they have it. That spark is called talent, though to be talented doesn't mean you can write. I have always said that I can teach anyone to play piano. That person may never be a concert pianist, but if you teach them the mechanics of it and they practice, they can learn to play well enough to enjoy doing it. But if you find a talented musician, deprive him of ever playing, then set him down at the piano, he can't play.
Anyone can learn to write, but a writer that has a love for the written word can write, and it sounds like a concert of perfectly smooth language with words that flow from their heart.

Writers that are published write better than I do.
Not really. Have you read a book and felt disappointed because the plotting was confusing or non-existent? Maybe there are grammatical errors, and you think, this must be self-published, but you find out it isn't. You think, I could write better than this. You probably can.
The publishing business is mostly about selling your work to a magazine or book publisher. It is all about the sell. Those guys are there to make a living just like everyone else. Your writing needs to have clarity, literacy, flow, and be accurate, but if a publisher believes he can't sell it, he won't buy it. He gets so many manuscripts on any given day that he can't read them all. This is where the mighty slush pile comes in.
Manuscripts stack up on publishers. He can't publish them all, especially when 99.5% would cost him more than he would make on them. So he reads query letters or reads what is agented work. And when he reads a query letter, it has to zing with salability; otherwise, that manuscript is headed for the slush pile.
But can you, the person you are right now, be a best-selling author? Are you best-seller material?

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