Michael Ransom
As the famed death row inmate once intimated, and which was swiped and slightly modified by the CEO of Nike in the 70's: Just Do It.
I'm focusing mainly on young aspiring writers in this Q&A. If you're older, like me (forties), then you probably already know that in theory, you can "just do it" anytime you want, but you may simultaneously be tied down with familial responsibilities, or any of a myriad of other commitments, that weigh you down as if you're standing in the middle of Times Square with a cruise ship's massive anchor chained to your ankle, angry lines of traffic and pedestrians honking at you to keep moving, trying to maneuver around you, as you look wildly around and beg to be released from the situation in which you find yourself... and you know that it's an impossibility, no one is coming with the key to save you, you have to figure this out on your own.
I'm not speaking to you. I'm speaking to the younger ones now, who haven't yet created those webs of networks and commitments and responsibilities to other people loved and for whom they care. The time is now. Go do it. Be a writer. Be a writer when the only thing you have to worry about is where your body will sleep and eat. Write like crazy during those days, and try to hit it big. Be motivated, write even when you don't feel like it, or when it would be just as easy to wake and bake with your good friend Mary Jane, or whatever you do, just write and then go beyond "writing" and don't just store up those manuscripts and let them fester- find a mentor, take classes, collaborate with friends, and learn HOW to Write and more importantly how to Revise. Why? Because you want other people to read what you write, and you therefore desperately need to learn Craft. And then, even though you're just a young one, barely a few days or weeks or months or years removed from being nudged out of the nest for the very first time and tumbling down to the ground while you flap those tiny little wings to no avail only to land in the soft pine straw below...
Submit that manuscript in its best possible form, find an agent, work with him/her to find a publisher...and try to become a writer early in life, and let it be your job until the day you die.
I'm focusing mainly on young aspiring writers in this Q&A. If you're older, like me (forties), then you probably already know that in theory, you can "just do it" anytime you want, but you may simultaneously be tied down with familial responsibilities, or any of a myriad of other commitments, that weigh you down as if you're standing in the middle of Times Square with a cruise ship's massive anchor chained to your ankle, angry lines of traffic and pedestrians honking at you to keep moving, trying to maneuver around you, as you look wildly around and beg to be released from the situation in which you find yourself... and you know that it's an impossibility, no one is coming with the key to save you, you have to figure this out on your own.
I'm not speaking to you. I'm speaking to the younger ones now, who haven't yet created those webs of networks and commitments and responsibilities to other people loved and for whom they care. The time is now. Go do it. Be a writer. Be a writer when the only thing you have to worry about is where your body will sleep and eat. Write like crazy during those days, and try to hit it big. Be motivated, write even when you don't feel like it, or when it would be just as easy to wake and bake with your good friend Mary Jane, or whatever you do, just write and then go beyond "writing" and don't just store up those manuscripts and let them fester- find a mentor, take classes, collaborate with friends, and learn HOW to Write and more importantly how to Revise. Why? Because you want other people to read what you write, and you therefore desperately need to learn Craft. And then, even though you're just a young one, barely a few days or weeks or months or years removed from being nudged out of the nest for the very first time and tumbling down to the ground while you flap those tiny little wings to no avail only to land in the soft pine straw below...
Submit that manuscript in its best possible form, find an agent, work with him/her to find a publisher...and try to become a writer early in life, and let it be your job until the day you die.
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