Post on 26-Jan-2015
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Novelist.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
It’s not hard to become a novelist.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
All you have to do is write a novel.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
All you have to do is write a novel.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
All you have to do is finish a novel.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
First, I was just a kid who liked to write.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
So I went to a university that had an undergraduate creative writing program.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And I won writing awards.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
I was going to write THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
By the time I was 25.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
But then, I graduated.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And I never wrote again.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And let me say,
Sunday, March 24, 2013
That happens all the time.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Because suddenly you’re out of school and nobody is waiting for you to write.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Nobody.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
So I got a job.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And I was good at it.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
So I did it for 15 years.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
But I wanted to write.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
So I read.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And read.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And I read.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And then I bought a desk.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And sat down.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Nothing.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
I had no clue how to write a book.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Because as a young writer, I wrote beautiful sentences.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And I started stories all the time.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
But I had no idea how to keep going.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
I had no idea how to write a story that was startling.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And satisfying.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
So I took classes. I studied with writers.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And I volunteered at 826 Valencia,where got to know other writers.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
I went to graduate school.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And I started a story about a girl who was looking for a family.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
I really wanted to know what would happen to her.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
So I kept writing.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And writing.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And
Sunday, March 24, 2013
After three and a half years,
Sunday, March 24, 2013
I finished it.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
(Finishing is very important.)
Sunday, March 24, 2013
When the book was finished, I got a literary agent.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
The agent sold the novel to a publisher.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
The publisher turned the manuscript into a book.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
The book is now sold in bookstores.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And available in public and high school libraries.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
So readers can buy it or check it out.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And they do.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And that’s kind of amazing.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
So, to recap.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
I became a writer by writing.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And reading.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And studying.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And
Sunday, March 24, 2013
(and this is the secret)
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Finishing.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
If you want to write a book,
Sunday, March 24, 2013
You have to finish it.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
No matter how long it takes.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
So, if you want to be a writer, you can study writing in college.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Or
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Study English.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Or
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Study biology or sociology or comparative religion or physics or history or animal science or art.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Or anything really.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Because there are a million paths to becoming a writer.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
But they all require writing.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And finishing what you write.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Also, there are a million ways to make a living as a writer.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And you might have to do all of them.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
This is how the writers I know make a living:
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Grants.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And residencies and fellowships.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And speaking. And graduate school. And teaching or tutoring.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Also commercial fishing, waitressing, investment banking, house cleaning, internal medicine, advocacy.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And sometimes from the proceeds of their books.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
For the past two years, I pieced together a living.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
From grants, a book advance, judging literary arts festivals, teaching, fellowships, speaking and consulting
Sunday, March 24, 2013
You have to be comfortable with financial instability.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
It’s why artists have such big egos.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
We have to believe in ourselves even when no one else does.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
But
Sunday, March 24, 2013
(and this is a big but)
Sunday, March 24, 2013
It’s worth it.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
So if you write. Keep writing.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Share your writing.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Find other writers.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
There are writers here: 826 Valencia
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And here: YouthSpeaks and YouthRadio
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And here: NanoWriMo and TILT and Rising Stars
Sunday, March 24, 2013
And
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Of course,
Sunday, March 24, 2013
All over the internet.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Onward.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Novelist
Prepared by Erica Lorraine Scheidt for Balboa High School Career Day March 20, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013