SO YOU WANNA BE A WRITER?

A short class I gave to college writing students recently.

So you want to be a writer?

My approach to writing, publishing, and selling is not for everybody. It might not even be for most people. There are some people out there with the talent, the skill, and the desire to get the job done, but they seem to lack one thing -- a concrete plan, something to keep them on track, to boost their confidence when it is low, to kick them in the bottom when it's needed.

Others have bought into the idea that writing and producing a book has to follow a particular plan, and that plan has to be long, tedious and more often unsuccessful. Still others are just frustrated and ready to try something new, anything new.

This article will not make a good writer out of a bad one, but it may help a good writer write more and in some cases better. It is radical in some places, conservative in others. Read it, think about it, and if you are not happy with your current rate of writing production, try it.

Six months you say? What is this, a speedwriting course? No. Although we talk a lot about how much you write in an hour, this is not an attempt to get you to write faster. You will write more and as a result you will become more productive, but how fast you type or how fast the words come into your head is not the point here. The object here is to prove that what you write in six months is going to be as good as what you would have written if you had taken two years. Quality is not a factor of speed.

First question is what kind of writer are you?

There are two types of writers:

Those who write and those who are "going to" write. And, those who are "going to" aren't really "going to."

Writing is one of those romantic careers where it looks so much more enjoyable and interesting from the outside looking in that quite a few people want to go inside and try it.

That's not completely true, of course, because according to estimates in the United States, a country of about 250 million people, there are over 2 1/2 million writers, people who have done some significant work. But, within that group of 2 1/2 million there are two groups, those who get published, and those who are "going to".

The real difference? You guessed it, those who are 'going to,' usually don't. Their efforts and skills go to waste. Out of that group, fewer than 500,000 ever get published. This number was even smaller a few years ago, and only the advances of technology have helped to bring it up a bit.

Okay, but we still have about half a million people published, when the writer becomes an Author. Of that group, however, there are two groups. Do I have to say it? That's right, there are those who publish successfully (that is, they sell books) and those who are "going to." Those who are going to, of course, seldom do.

This article is a quick look at how to make sure you are in the right groups all the way down the line. First, you have to make sure that you are a writer who writes. Then, you have to be a writer who gets published. Finally, you have to be a published writer who actually sells books. In a nutshell, that's why this article is for you. If you have no interest in writing, you will be bored. If you are truly serious about being all three, a writer, published, and successful, then the next few pages may be an invaluable help to you.

Ask most people what they envision when they think of a writer's life, you'll get some of these answers: Rich, famous, life of leisure, free time, cocktail parties, easy money, and so on and so forth.

For most writers, though, the actual answers are closer to: Struggling to make a living, anonymity, long hours, no time, deadlines and small paychecks.

Am I trying to stop you from writing? No, of course not. I'm trying to get you to see it for what it is. If you know that a writer has to work hard, and that your odds of being the next Stephen King (in terms of royalties) are small, and you still want to write, then you have a legitimate shot of being a successful published author.

Okay, the illusions of the easy writer's life have been shattered and not too many of you have thrown away this article. So, let's assume that everyone left is serious. Let's break it down into some helpings that everyone can digest.

Starting out, let's break our information down into getting started, writing, editing, publishing options, and marketing.

Getting started

Chose a subject or genre (pronounced John-Ra). This is usually determined by why you want to write in the first place. Is it because you enjoy writing? Is it because you think you are good enough and think you can make a good living at writing? It is because your legs are paralyzed and this is a career you can work at regularly? In my case, I just love telling stories and writing them is one way to tell them to a wider audience.

The reason doesn't matter, but the reason may steer you towards a genre. If you are into writing for the money, then you'll want to look at the subjects that sell the most books. Presently genres such as romance, espionage, thriller, science fiction and non-fiction political are selling well.

If you write because you love to express yourself, then you'll write what you like. Here's a very short and terribly incomplete list of genres you could pick from: Science fiction, fantasy, romance, western, mystery, detective, young adult, adventure, children's, humor, historical, biography, expose, how to, self help, technical or science. There are hundreds more and within each genre there are hundreds of sub-groups.

Let's say you pick Science Fiction? (I chose this genre because most of my books have been Science Fiction). I write Science Fiction/Adventure for three reasons: I enjoy the genre; I can tell stories and disguise them as other things; and here's the lazy man's answer; I can avoid a lot of criticism from people who want to tell me that I am inaccurate.

Who is able to tell me that the alien races of Ionar and human cannot inter-breed? Who says that light rays can't transport material objects from point A to point B. When I wrote my Civil War novel about the Battle of Brice's Crossroads, even though it was a fictional account, I had to do tremendous research just to make sure that my fictional characters blended into the true history of the battle. I couldn't have my young Lieutenant on the wrong part of the battlefield during a critical time.

However, in Science Fiction and more so in Fantasy, you can most often avoid the phrase, "Prove it?" I'm not out to tell the truth, I'm out to tell the truth as I see it or as it could be. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that Science Fiction is easier to write than other genres. What I gain in the ability to by-pass the "prove it" scenario, I lose in the fact that I have no picture to follow, no rule book to read, that most of the worlds or alien life forms I write about have to be created from scratch. And, while I may not have to prove everything about my alien world, what I present better make good sense. It has to be logical with a strong scientific backing.

Read and research: It doesn't matter what you are writing. You cannot be a writer if you are not a reader.

Does a football player show up the first day of the regular season and expect to play, without even seeing the game plan? Does an actor show up for the day of filming with no rehearsals? Does the doctor skip medical school, the lawyer law school? Let's hope not!

And, neither can you, as a writer, hope to be successful at writing any genre if you do not read that particular genre. Find the publications that interest you. The plot and the characters don't have to be anything like what you plan, but you should enjoy the book.

Don't waste your time on books you do not enjoy. But read, read as much as you write, preferably two or three times as much as you write. By reading, you'll become a better writer.

Read the book the first time for the pure enjoyment of it. If you really enjoyed the book, read it a second time and study it. See how the writer structures his/her sentences, how is the dialogue handled? Does the narrative flow? Is the description of scenes, places, and people effective? What words are used that you don't normally use? Is the word-flow smooth? Does the writer grab your attention, hit your emotions, and leave you wanting more? Go on to the next writer, read, enjoy, analyze.

You are not planning to adopt someone else’s style if your are planning to write for publication. The major publishers do not want another writer who copies their premiere money earner, they want fresh blood, fresh perspective. Pick a writer you enjoy and emulate his/her style, but do not copy it. Be yourself! After a while, you may notice that your writing is similar to Faulkner's, but with a twist of Hemingway, and a tad bit of Grisham. That's your style coming out, being born. You're not copying either of them but adapting what you enjoy from each to your own style. Writing is being creative; it's not like newspaper writing. In the newspaper industry, the publisher wants, "just the facts," no flowery phrases or detailed descriptions. (Although some of my articles do get a bit long winded). Use your word power to bring out the best.

Planning and schedule: The time has come to ask some hard and honest questions: How long can you write each day? How many days per week will you commit to writing? Do you know yet what you plan to write? What time of day is best for your writing? Do you have the supplies necessary?

Let's start with the last question first. What tool are you using to write your book?

More and more writers have turned to the computer or word processor.

We've come a long way from the days when H.G. Wells wrote his books longhand while sitting in the window seat of his house, and even a long way from Ernest Hemingway clickety-clacking away on his manual typewriter.

Some authors still use electric typewriters, but the advantage of using the computer is so great as compared to any other system that most writers use them. I have read that John Grisham still uses a legal pad and pen to write his first draft on his novels. The point is, use what you are comfortable with. My first book I wrote, actually printed, in a set of four school composition books, then I typed them on computer.

How many hours a day can you write, and when? I write most often in the evening between 8:00 p.m. and midnight. The family is watching the boob tube and distractions are at a minimum. But, you have to decide what works for you. You have families, jobs, you have lives to live. Don't misunderstand me, if you want to be a writer, writing will have to be an important part of your day, but you have to put it into perspective. I write every weekday for the newspaper, a different style of writing naturally, but I still use my creative writing juices.

Let's say you find two hours a day to write (even if it's from 4 a.m. to 6.a. m. like I use to write) and for the sake of conservatism we'll say that you cannot commit to writing on weekends. Again, you may be different, or opposite, but this is our example, okay?

Again, let's assume that you are not a great typist and you can do around 25 words a minute. If you can't, you need to practice, a lot! At this rate you'll be writing approximately 1,500 words an hour or 15,000 words in your average week.

There's so much we do not know at this point and one of the biggest don't knows is how long your book will be. But for the sake of our example, we'll say your book is going to be around 80,000 words, a typical novel length book. (Most of mine average around 130,000 words). Not a Stephen King monster, but typical! At the rate of your writing, if you stick to your schedule, you will complete your first draft in about five and one half weeks. This means that your total writing time will be eleven weeks because you will spend as much time editing as writing.

But, can you type a little faster? Can you add an hour a day, or even just every other day? What about Saturday, or Sunday after church?

For every five words per minute you can type, you will cut ten days off your total writing/editing time. For every hour you add to your writing week you shave about six days off the total. Combine these two and you can significantly reduce the time it takes to write your book and get it ready.

I am not saying that you should rush. It's not a race. I am not saying that you should cram as many words as you can into every hour. As long as you can type at minimal speed, the idea isn't to write faster, it is to write longer!

Okay, let's stop for a moment and talk about what we mean when we say you are writing. We are 'Writing." We are not thinking about the story, we are not jotting down notes, or planning an outline, or pretending to sign autographs. This is actual writing time. If you want to daydream or plot or think about the direction of the story, do that during the OTHER hours of the day. This is writing time, time actually spent putting words down on paper.

How long it takes to complete your book isn't really the important part of this. Nonetheless, the title of this article is, So you want to be a writer, and writing means writing, not thinking, doodling, or fantasizing. For the sake of production, let's get down to a specified scenario, say 60 days to write your book, sixty days to edit it, and sixty days to publish it, how does that sound?

Here are some examples that helped me to get going and may help to get you started: Example one, the typical novel.

Day one, the one pager: Write out, on no more than one page, what the book is about. You don't have to be interesting, you don't have to be creative or have room for detail, but write it out so you know what you are talking about.

About half the books that do not get finished end up that way because when you the writer sat down to write, you had no idea what direction the book was going to go. Perhaps many should not have started. In other words, the author decided to take a vacation, loaded up the car, filled up the gas tank, and started the engine. Once he pulled out of the driveway he became progressively more lost. No destination, no road map.

The one pager forces you to decide what the book is about, and one possible conclusion for it. You may change it a lot; the ending may be completely different than what you wrote down, but you aren't going to start a book unless you know there will be an ending.

Day two, the breakdown: You can do this as an outline, but for fiction I have never used it because fiction is more linear.

What I do is just write down what happens in each chapter, in twenty words or less, no detail, nothing elaborate, just a framework. As I write the book, I "flesh out" each chapter as I go, adding or changing things along the way.

Day three, the schedule: Now you have to start thinking! Look at your breakdown. How many short chapters, how many long chapters? You are guessing, but a good guess is better than none at all.

One of my books turned out to be 55 short chapters. For each short chapter, assume 3,000 words, long chapter around 6,000 words.

Again, just a guess, but once you have started the book you'll discover that chapters have a way of becoming longer or shorter depending on how they flesh out.

Okay, so you expect to write around 80,000 words. Your typing speed is 35 words per minute, on the average, or 2,100 words per hour. You will need about 43 hours to write the first draft if you stick to your daily writing schedule. If you are going for the epic novel, say 250,000 words or more, the schedule is the same starting with day one.

Most writers, even experienced writers, fail to think about exactly how many hours they are spending on a book or how many more they will need to spend. If you went to your boss to discuss a project, and he asked you how long it would take to complete the project and all you could do was shrug, what do you think the boss' reaction would be? In writing, you are your own boss, and you should not allow yourself to approach your writing project with the same lackluster attitude. Make a decision before you start that you are going to devote X number of hours each day to your book, circumstances permitting.

Next, sit down write out your one pager (give it to someone, and see if they like the idea), write out your chapter breakdown and figure out your writing schedule. Fully understand that the chapter breakdown must be flexible as well as your time. If you are determined to be a writer do not, however, take the day off from writing simply because you'd prefer to watch a TV sitcom, or some other distraction. You set the hours, you stick by them! (Have someone tape that stupid TV show).

At this point, you are already better prepared than most writers are before they start a book, because you have an idea how long this phase will take. This does not mean you have to be finished at a certain time, that if you fail in your established schedule you are failing as a writer. No! This is just a personal goal that you set for yourself.

Writing, publishing and selling your book in a particular amount of time is just one more goal, designed to prevent you from putting off getting started, designed to help you get one book under your belt, designed to help you more quickly reach the point of saying, "That's my book!"

Write your schedule down. Block out the hours in your planner that you expect to write. Tack it, log it, it's one of the few times I recommend you keep track of time. Not only do you have to be careful that you do not neglect your writing, but you have to make sure that your writing doesn't cause you to neglect the other parts of your life, health, job, family, and sanity.

If doing too much too soon is causing your life to get all screwed up, slow down! Take a few days off, your book will be there when you get back.

Now it gets interesting, now it gets hard. Up to now, you have been "working on" your novel, but you haven't been writing your novel. You've been planning and preparing, but even when you weren't using my advice you were probably doing that anyway. Now, though, you are done preparing. The only records you are going to keep, to let you know about your progress, is to jot down on a daily basis how many words you wrote, and how many hours you wrote. Beyond that, it's time to write.

Ideas from nowhere: One of the most commonly asked questions of popular or admired writers is, "Where do you get your ideas from?" Aside from the grammatical problems with the question, there is simply no answer. The ideas can come from anywhere, and they can come from nowhere. You've written your one pager at this point, and your chapter breakdown. In your head you already know the story you want to tell. The details? They come from observation, from your notes, and in the case of Science Fiction, from the natural world.

Most writers, most good writers, don't have problems getting ideas, they have problems finding the time to write them all down. I intentionally do not listen to the radio while driving, and all kinds of ideas pop into my seemingly idle mind. For instance, are you trying to devise a world for your characters to visit? Can't come up with anything? Close your eyes, turn your head in no particular direction, open your eyes and write down the first thing you see.

I just did it and saw a tree and a cat.  How can that help? Perhaps the world I'm thinking of has gigantic trees, with alien life running along roads made from its branches.

The aliens are evolved from cat-like animals, very graceful, tribal, primitive, but intelligent. I see the temperature outside my office is around 80 degrees. Suppose the tree planet has extremes of weather, torrential rains, and 130-degree heat. It's 2:00 p.m. on my clock in the office. What about time? Does the planet have a 24-hour day? A longer, a shorter day? Do the cat-people have enemies, what kind? What would happen if I was transported to this world along with the rest of the people in my county? How would we survive, what would we encounter, who would lead us? If you book is about history, you spot a jar on your desk. What kind of jar did they use in the period you're writing about? What is its contents, who made it, how was it made?

My point is, simply, that to be out of ideas means you are not looking around. Each idea leads to another and that could lead to a plot line or detail you hadn't considered earlier. Don't be afraid to have a bad idea now and then, even two. You may not use it now, but six months from now it could fit perfectly into another book you are writing.

Drafting rules: I'm not going to tell you about sentence structure, grammar or style. These are necessary and you will learn them or you won't. What I am telling you is the way to get your book done. First, stick to your rule of "Start-To-Finish." You are not going to go back and rewrite chapter one while you are in the middle of the book. You are not going to decide that a paragraph from yesterday needs to be changed to foreshadow a future event or throw out chapter twelve because the villain has changed something.

No! You will start at the beginning until you type "The End," you will only move forward. Of course, when you realize you must make a change you will go to that page in your master copy (printed out every night) and make the notation, such as, need to write dialogue to foreshadow death of so and so in chapter 14, or some such thing. Just don't go back and do it now. Once you have finished your book, once you have hit the finish line, then go back and correct or rewrite as needed. If you go back now you'll be stuck in the never-ending rewriting loop. I wrote the first chapter of one book for several months; then, once I realized I was going in circles I moved forward and finished the book in six weeks.

What I just described is important!

When you read a book, do you read the whole book, even if you grow to hate it?

Do you say, "I started this so I guess I'll have to finish it?" Or, do you say this is not doing anything for me and put away?

Regardless of which type you are, you will judge the overall value of the book within the first 40 pages. Now, that may be ethically wrong or may be morally right, but for most readers it is a simply truth. In the first 40 pages, so many conclusions about the book have been reached, including answers to the questions: What is this book about? Do I care?

When I read something, I give it a 40-page report. If the book has not captured my interest in that time, I put it away, usually never to be picked up again unless I am "desperate' for reading material.

With that in mind I urge you, whatever you do, make sure that in the first 40 pages you have given the reader (and potential publisher) a solid idea of the plot of your book, the main characters, and give them a good reason to want to move forward. Give them a question that must be answered, an obstacle that must be overcome, a character worth finding out more about.

If you don't, your book will be dropped by many and seldom make it through a publisher's first cut; even if it's a wonderful book if read all the way through. You don't have to give it all away, just make sure you grab the reader's attention early on. If you save the best for last, many readers will never make it to that last chapter.

How to write when you don't feel like it: We authors have our own personal disease. We call it writer's block. It's a wonderful malady, because it has no cause, it has no cure, and we can call upon it any time. It is an infirmity that is exclusive for writers and offers us a level of prestige just to have it.

It's also a load of bull! If you are experiencing writer's block, then you are not a writer, you should try some other field.

Writer’s block, when it exists, is the absolute easiest thing to cure. We love to write when we are inspired. We love to write when we know word for word what we want to say, and the fingers fly across the keyboard, the letters and words forming themselves as if by magic. When we don't have inspiration we often chose not to write. One of the justifications is that we are not inspired, the writing will be substandard.

This is simply not true. I have discovered that some of my best work has happened when I do not feel like writing. Truth is, the worst thing you can do when you feel you have writer's block is to stop writing. That's like saying you have pneumonia so the choice is to walk outside in the cold without clothing.

Have writer's block? Want to cure it? Sit down with the next chapter of your book, and intentionally write the worst chapter of writing you have ever imagined. Include every possible or ridiculous twist or plot, use every worn word or cliché, and make the dialogue stilted and awful. Work on this chapter for about half an hour or so. You won't use this chapter, of course, but I guarantee that by the time you are done you will know what it is you really want to write, and you will be ready to do it. And remember, sometimes writing is work!

Editing your book: You've reached the end and you know that your book is not perfect. Now is the time to go back and make those changes. Your editing time will most likely take as much time as it took to write your book. What's that you say?

Yes, because you have to read through it, take notes, then go through and do the writing, then read it again, make notes, then go back and write some more. If you don't do this at least two times, then you are not serious about your writing.

Three or four times would be better. I rushed my Civil War novel to the publisher so fast, that when the initial printing came out, I wished I had gone back through it several more times. I found a lot of errors, most of them small and insignificant but noticeable to any dedicated reader. I can tell a good story, but my grammar and punctuation needs vast improvement.

This is where you need to know your grammar, your sentence structure, or know where to and how to find out. Use the computer spell check but do not rely on it to do the entire thing. Many words may be spelled correctly but used incorrectly. Can you rely on the screen? Yes, but chances are you'll rush through it. Print it out, sit down, and take your time.

This is your "baby" you know, the thing you have given birth to over days, weeks, months, don't bail out now!

We authors, as a rule, are terribly unfaithful to our spouses and significant others. That's because we always fall in love with our own words. When we look at this book, this wonderful "work of art" it is easy to lose perspective.

Do you let others read this work of art? Yes, with the following stipulation: If you are going to have one person read it, make sure you have at least four people read it. No matter how much you may respect the opinion of one person, they are only one person and a different person than you are. But, their opinion alone, even if it is different than yours, still leaves a 50-50 split.

Get at least four opinions, preferably at least one from a professional such as a creative writing teacher or English teacher.

Writing.com is a good place for exposure to your baby! Chances are, there will be a great deal of difference from the opinions of these people and you must decide if their opinions have valid points to offer. If most of them agree that certain parts or chapters are confusing or need editing, think about it. You may even want to enlist several of them to help make corrections.

Never take the opinion of one close relative or friend, they may not give you good guidance because they do not want to hurt your feelings.

Now for some publishing options:

You can pat yourself on the back because you stuck to your schedule finished the book, and have gone back through it several times for proper editing. Now, another difficult task awaits you, getting it published.

I'm not going to say that the easy part is over, because the whole writing process is hard. But, the most frustrating part could just be starting. Depending on your choice of publishing methods, you could be in for weeks of waiting, expense, delays, mistakes, and a lot of conversation that could amount to nothing. But, there's no point in writing a book if you are not going to get it published, right? Right!

Traditional publishing is the dream so many authors aspire to: Send the manuscript to a major New York Publisher, and a week later get the call that your book has been chosen, a big advance is on the way, and next week you'll be flown to New York as the personal guest of the publisher.

Nice story, but don't count on it!

Traditional publishing has always been highly competitive and the high advance books have always been few and far between. This has become much harder over the past few years. The reality of traditional publishing is: The process takes an average of 18 months to two years.

The average competent manuscript is rejected 12 times before it is accepted. There is seldom any advance and you have no control over your book or its promotion or publication schedule.

Your royalties are usually quite small and they come at long intervals. You sell your rights to someone else. Most major publishing houses keep a stable of writers who sell and seldom accept an unagented manuscript. Many major writers such as Dean Koontz have started to buy-back their rights so they can control future publication runs.

Am I telling you not to try it? No! I'm telling you that the odds of success are long and difficult. There are a dozen or so best selling authors in the industry, and perhaps a hundred more who make a decent income at writing.

The field is very difficult to break into. Even Stephen King and John Grisham were rejected many times on their first try.

Another approach is subsidy publishing. The world of subsidy publishing has been around a long, long time. In short, with subsidy publishing you pay some or all of the publishing costs to have your book published. You get royalties, and the company may actually market your book.

The reputation for subsidy publishing is, however, not good. It is known by many as "vanity press" because the feeling is that people who want to get published pay, even if the book is not worth seeing in print. Many subsidy publishers will tell you how much they will do for your book, how much they believe in it and how successful you should be, but they make their money doing the publishing, and if they don't sell a single copy, they have still made money. You may even get stuck with hundreds or thousands of copies that you cannot market.

Self-publishing is another road to travel. If you are going to have to pay to have your book produced, self-publishing is many times better than subsidy publishing. In self-publishing you pay someone up front to publish your book, but it is known that this is only what they do. They make money, but the marketing is left up to you. If you choose self-publishing, you must understand at the beginning that you know what you want your book to look like and you are prepared to pay for it, that you are ready to spend time and money marketing your book, you are prepared for the time, effort, and expenses of storing and shipping your book, and you believe it has enough commercial potential to make it in a tough market.

Another relatively new type of self-publishing has become possible in recent years. Through the computer web and the advances in technology, we now have print-on-demand or POD Publishers.

Fees for POD publishing range from $100 up to the thousands; your book can be designed and readied for ordering by a professional publisher. With print-on-demand it's just as it sounds.

Your book is not printed until someone orders a copy, one or 10,000. The book is printed, bound, and shipped to order, and the POD publisher will handle everything, including bookkeeping.

The quality of these books is usually very high, and there are many options available. Some print-on-demand publishers require an exclusive contract, but others take none of your book rights. They can make your book available to bookstores, on the Internet, or to individuals,  even in electronic versions.

Like many other things there is good and bad with print-on-demand. The good: Your book is printed and available forever. It can be ordered on-line, by phone, or through most bookstore chains. The quality is usually very good.

While traditional publishing takes 18 months or more, this system can be done in an average of three or four months. The bad: The retail price of the books is usually at the high end. The author also pays a high price for his/her copies. The company makes the books available, on order, but does very little to market the book. Because the print-on-demand system is generally not strict about what they publish, there is a danger of your book being looked down upon because it associated with substandard books. (Note: Some POD publishers are very strict and these are the ones you want to publish with if you choose POD).

Right now the Print-on-Demand publishing system is very popular despite its weak marketing opportunities. It allows your book to see print which otherwise might never get a fair chance. One good aspect of POD is that you retain all rights to your work and while the book is available through the POD system, you can still market it to the major publishing houses. Should you be accepted by one of these houses though, you will have to pull it from the POD market. I have had several friends use this avenue of approach and I am presently using it.I find that it is beneficial to send a POD copy of my book to an agent or publisher as opposed to a manuscript.

A short note on agents: The first thing that many new authors try to do is to go looking for an agent. Many of your major publishing houses will not look at your manuscript unless it is presented by an agent, as they use agents as initial screeners. An agent can be a very good thing, if you can find a good one, but there are some things to be wary of. Agents are not regulated or required to be licensed. Anyone can call himself or herself an agent and as a result, there are some good ones and some really bad ones.

Some good advice to ponder: No agent worth a grain of salt will accept you without first reading your work. If an agent requires a reading fee, you must ask yourself, why? (Some agents charge $100 or $200 reading fees and by accepting hundreds of wannabe published authors, make their money this way).

The first agent I got (years ago) charged me $300. He sent me glowing reports on his contacts with the big publishers, then a year later, was blacklisted as a scam-artist.

Never work with an agent who will not enter into a written agreement and always read it carefully and make sure you can terminate the contract when necessary.

Some tips on marketing: If you are published in the traditional manner this information will not be of much use, it is geared mostly towards the self-published author. One of the best books I have read on marketing is, "1001 ways to market your books" by John Kremer. It is jam-packed with good information.

Some of the best tips I can offer are find other authors and pool your resources. Join writer's clubs, genre clubs. Give away excerpts of your book, either paper chapters, or electronic versions. Attend book conventions, get to know the public, find out what publishers attend these conventions, have copies of your books available. (I took 50 copies of my Civil War novel to several Civil War reenactments and they sold very well. I passed out fliers on how to order them when I ran out). Send books to talk show hosts, the local TV stations, radio stations; try to get newspaper write-ups about your book. Create business cards on your computer, talk to civic clubs, sponsor a writing award at the high school or college, leave copies in the doctor's office.

When I was halfway through my first book, I told myself I was going to finish the book but I would never write another thing. I decided that writing was too hard, consumed too much mental and physical energy. I was wrong, of course.

My first book turned into a 280,000-word epic, then into a trilogy, finally into a series of books. I then started branching off into other genres. Once you get bitten by the writing bug, you always go back for more.

The characters you give birth to are like an extended family, you want to see what they'll do in any given situation, to nurture them, guide them, scold them, and even kill them when the need arises. In effect, as a writer you are creating your own magic, your own worlds, and your perfect place to go to when you're lonely.

This brings us back to the question; can you write your book in six months? Maybe not. Most won't. And most don't need to. But for those of you who have tried to become a successful writer and reached an impasse, a brick wall, maybe it is because your approach needed to be altered.

Maybe instead of the luxury of time, you need to make yourself get it done.

I am a firm believer that what I can write in two years, I can certainly write in six months. Three of my books were written in an average of six weeks. If it is going to be junk in six months, it will be junk in two years anyway.

My biggest hindrance has been working as an editor far too long. I automatically look for things to chop to save space and I don’t pay enough attention to punctuation as we have a punctuation expert. I guess we all have bad habits!

Give it a try. Even if you never sell a single copy of your book, you can say, "I am an author."

Bona Scrabindi!

Oldwarrior