: About Me

Determination is probably the most important quality for an aspiring writer. But just how long is too long? Better not ask me. I completed my first 100K word sci-fi novel in 1978. I have done 14 more in various genres in the 30 years since, writing through career changes, marriage, children being born, moving, building houses, losing my job and I have no idea how many rejection letters. (At least a ream I think) Also articles in hobby magazines, newsletters, newspapers here and there. I did do a vanity publisher. (Don't do that!) I did an E-book. Actually was a good experience but don't expect to sell many or claim to be a 'published writer'. And I have a middle grade manuscript making the rounds now. I wrote it with my 10-12 year old son and it will be published.....perhaps after I'm dead anyway.

My total income from about 2 million words of completed manuscripts is below $300. So that would be, uhm, $10.00 a year. (Don't tell the IRS I did not report it, okay?)

This is not to discourage you though. What writing has brought me has been worth it and will continue to be worth it for the next 30 years. That's my message to new aspiring writers. Enjoy what you write. Make your goal to never stop writing. Don't worry too much about being the token intellectual in the last 5 minutes of the Tonight Show. If it happens, it happens.

I have a 40K word manuscript detailing the rather humorous pitfalls of writing 30 years without getting published. Editors like it but it won't be published unless I become a 'successful author' first. So if any of you new writers are interested in reading it to see what not to do, I'll be glad to donate an email copy to you for free to save you some pain. (I'm very, very, very good at writing for free. Even won awards for it!)

One small excerpt: What does it take to write for 30 years without a commercial success? Well, I'm stubborn because I'm part German, arrogant because I'm part British and always right because I'm an American. So there you have it. If you are stubborn, arrogant and always right, you can do anything. Plus you won't have any friends so you will have plenty of time to write.

Creative Writing > Humor Humor: Tips for unpublished writers

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Genres Gone Wild! New writers face a lot of daunting choices. Do I stop writing to eat more than once per day? Do I print on recycled paper to submit to an environmental magazine? The there is the genre question. One of the big changes I have seen over the last 30 years of writing is the explosion of Genre classifications. There are main genres, sub-genres, cross-over genres and multi-genre genres. There may now be more genres than books to put them in. Why? Faced with an increasingly difficult sales environment, the people in the marketing arm of the publishing industry are desperate to f...

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