A career writer is a career
human being

If you choose to be a career writer, be prepared for a roller coaster ride with plenty of stomach flip-flops!

Although there's nothing wrong with college writing courses and how-to textbooks and manuals, at a certain point every aspiring writer discovers that learning how to become a professional writer has little to do with taking courses and passing exams and everything to do with passion and perseverance.

In fact, one soon learns there are no rights or wrongs in this world because every "wrong" attempt is merely another step forward.

Although I was tempted to tell this young woman that publishing and writing are two different animals, I knew at this point in her student life, this might be too complex to understand. Instead, I sent her to my two websites so she could do her own exploration and then come back to me with questions, if she wished.

I was also tempted to tell her that the best experience she could give herself during her summer break from college courses would be to take a few hikes in the desert (I live in Arizona) or go up to the Sedona and Flagstaff area and enjoy the mountains--without a camera or cellphone.

It is so important for every creative person to spend time in nature, observing and "just being."

I could have also suggested that she take a job working with inner city children, teaching them how to read and write. Or that she volunteer for some community service project.

One summer I worked at the Jewish Home for the Aged as a nurse's aide. Within the period of twelve weeks, I gathered a whole lifetime of material for novels, short stories and poems. A woman died while I was caring for her, and directly afterward, I watched the bureau mirror cloud over. That single experience influenced everything I ever wrote thereafter.

Several of the residents were Holocaust survivors. I changed their diapers and bed linen, emptied their bed pans and listened to their stories. Their relatives became my own family.

These "writing lessons" can only be found in the textbook called Life.

For an excellent book on how to sell your writing, click here.

If you would like to learn more about how to become a career writer, click here.

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