Letters to Kel: SOMETHING TO SAY -- but SHOULD you?

All right, so you believe you believe you have something to say. It's burning in your gut. Your mind races with images and words. Your heart pounds with righteous indignation or the glee of some mind-blowing discovery or a piece of advice that you're sure will change the world, or a story that you just know everyone will enjoy.

In my editing work, I've come across lots of books trying to say something their authors believe must be communicated to the world. They believe they have something to say. It matters greatly to them -- but does that automatically mean it will matter to anyone but them, or their small circle of friends and co-workers?

Just because it's the most important thing in the world to you, does that mean everyone else in the world will -- or must -- feel the same way?

I've lost count of the numbers of books I've edited in the last eight years, where the author starts out with, "I've learned valuable lessons in my lifetime, and I'm passing them on to you. I'm going to teach you how to avoid my mistakes and _______________ (fill in the blank -- make your marriage better, avoid men who will do you wrong, raise intelligent children, drive the devil out of your church, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum). Then the author proceeds to stumble through his life story, half the time talking about how people treated him wrong and how awful her life was and nobody gave her a chance and everyone she trusted betrayed her or he made stupid choices, on and on ... and yet NEVER give any details of how she solved the problems. NO LESSONS for the reader -- no stopping and saying, "Here's where I went wrong. These are the warning signs. This is what you need to do differently."

Sorry, but there are enough books full of misery with no solutions, no resolutions, no change in the main character's life -- the world doesn't need any more. The world doesn't need 150 pages of people pointing out what's wrong with the government or the economy or your neighbor's back yard or the church down the street -- with no suggestions for how to fix those problems, no plan to get out of the hole the people or government have dug themselves into. Were you as disgusted as I was, during a past presidential election, where one of the candidates said, essentially, "My opponent's plan is wrong, it won't work, my plan is going to fix this country within a few years of my being elected," and yet he never spelled out why his opponent's plan wouldn't work -- and he REFUSED to give even a hint of what his plan was? What good does that do anyone?

You believe you have something to say -- but if all you're doing is wallowing in your misery or criticizing everyone around you without offering any concrete lessons, any solid advice to your readers, it's better to just keep silent.