Stickwithitness is Essential for Writers

I am not a young man anymore. When I was in fourth grade I decided to be a writer because I enjoyed watching the Dick VanDyke show. He was a joke writer—it looked like a lot of fun...and he had a hot wife. Through the years I've continued to write, ranging rom childish Pastiches of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, to failed attempts at being the next Tom Robbins, Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, Katherine Dunn, or John Irving. In high school, I wrote erotica to entertain friends. In college, I nearly published a sword and sorcery novel. Yet the publisher went out of business. After many years of study, reading, refining, I finally happened upon my own unique style. A defining moment was destroying my television and throwing it in the trash. I felt that my ideas were being subconsciously effected by the boob tube.

My point is...no one develops into a writer overnight. It takes time. Hopefully, like Jose Saramago, and Gabriel Marquez, you'll just get better with age. We can only wonder what else Hemingway would have had to say if he'd lived longer. Failure is an intrinsic part of writing, and you need a thick skin. Writing is egotistical, and when someone dismisses something you've put your heart and soul into, it hurts, angers us, and then, hopefully...leads to thinking, which makes us stronger.

As I said, I'm no Spring chicken, yet this past month I sold two new novels, a flash fiction, and a short story. Ive been writing most of my life, and it really is feast or famine. Stickwithitness is essential to your success. In the coming months I hope you'll take a peep at Seedlings, an apocalyptic science fiction novel that will be published by the fine folks at World Castle Publishing. Shalla Publishing will be publishing an erotic short story collection, Je Ne Sais Quoi, and Jay Wolf will be publishing an apocalyptic short story, Genesis, in the upcoming issue of his Alternative Historical Fiction magazine. Of course I'll announce when they are available. i want to thank you . Without readers and writers, there would be no reason to write. And let me add, without the love and support of my BMW (beautiful Mexican wife) Silvia, my inspiration may have dried up long ago.