Writing, always writing...

In 1976 I began a monthly instructional column on fiction writing for Writers Digest, and kept at it for fourteen years. Two books, Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and Spider, Spin Me a Web, grew out of that job, and they're both still in print many years and editions later.

But it wasn't until last year that I gathered up my later WD columns and made two Open Road eBooks out of them. Having noted that Telling Lies consistently outsold Spider by a factor of four or five to one, I called the new books The Liar's Bible and The Liar's Companion. They've had a good reception, and Open Road has since made them available as trade paperbacks.

Still, it's clear that many fans of Telling Lies are largely unaware of the two new books. I can tell you that if you like Telling Lies you're apt to find Bible and Companion at least as valuable, that they're very much of a piece with the earlier work, that the only real difference is that they were written by a fellow who'd lived a few more years, written a few more books, and possibly learned a thing or two in the process.

I wonder, though. Instead of trying to draw you a picture, suppose I give you a couple thousand words?

So here's a sample column, one of the first chapters in The Liar's Companion. It appeared in the magazine in 1987. If you like it, well, I'll probably post additional chapters here from time to time. Or I suppose you could always cut to the chase and buy the book...

WRITING, ALWAYS WRITING

Man must work from sun to sun.
Woman’s work is never done.

That, at least, is how they put it in the bad old days of sexism and long hours. Now, what with union contracts and feminism, not to mention the around-the-clock shifts facilitated by electrification, the old rhyme simply won’t stand up. How can we update it, to produce a suitable bromide for our times?

Mere mortals work from 9 to 5.
A writer works when he’s alive.

Well, it rhymes and it scans, but I can’t say I’m crazy about it. There ought to be a better way to convey in verse the idea that the writer’s work never ceases. Perhaps we’ll take another stab at it in a little while. Meanwhile, let’s examine not the rhyme but the reason...

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