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Literary Lights

Priscilla Fagan

"When I was doing short magazine pieces and screenplays, I feared undertaking anything as formidable as a book. One day, while I was collaborating with novelist Jerome Weidman on a screenplay for a studio, Weidman advised me how to overcome my fear. 'Think about writing one page, merely one page, every day. At the end of 365 days, the end of a year, you have 365 pages. And you know what you have? You have a full-length book.'" —Irving Wallace

Fears are a part of being a writer, at least most writers; fear of success, fear of failure and fear of running out of ideas. We all tend to sink into our own caves wallowing in our creative inadequacies, only coming out with encouragement. Encouragement is not always sugarcoated. It can be brutal. You have to assume that the act of writing is the most important of all. "If you start worrying about people's feelings, then you get nowhere at all." —Norman Mailer

Jeffrey A. Carver offers us this piece of advice. "Be determined, and be thick-skinned. I collected rejection slips for six years before I finally sold my first short story. Why did I keep going? Was I crazy? Probably. I was convinced I could do it, and I refused to take no for an answer." How many times have we heard this from aspiring and published writers? Yes, it is hard work, but there is no other way. Be persistent. Editors change; editorial tastes change; markets change. "Too many beginning writers give up too easily." —John Jakes Fight your insecurities; believe in yourself; proceed with confidence.

Richard Rhodes has very encouraging words. "If you want to write, you can. Fear stops most people from writing, not lack of talent, whatever that is. Who am I? What right have I to speak? Who will listen to me if I do? You're a human being, with a unique story to tell, and you have every right. If you speak with passion, many of us will listen. We need stories to live, all of us. We live by story. Yours enlarges the circle."

"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." —Samuel Beckett. Dare to jump out of that safety net. Who knows what you can accomplish. An old cliché, 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained' is so appropriate.

I'll leave you with a little gem from George Eliot. "It is never too late to be what you might have been."

Take care.

Until next time I remain eternally optimistic, Priscilla