So, You Want to Be a Writer?: How to Write, Get Published, and Maybe Even Make It Big! (Be What You Want) - Softcover

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Vicki Hambleton is a verbal tutor for students in grades 9–12. She was a project editor and writer or Benchmark Education, specializing in books for grades K–8. Her writing has appeared in numerous children's publications including Cobblestone, Calliope, and Footsteps.

Cathleen Greenwood is a teacher, published writer, consultant for the National Council of Teachers of English, and veteran presenter at national and local professional conferences on teaching and writing. She has helped countless students successfully submit writings to magazines, publishers, and contests.

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So, You Want to Be a Writer?

1

What’s It Like to Be a Writer?

You pull into the parking lot of your favorite bookstore, knowing that this time it’s not going to be just to meet your buddies. Someone else is expecting you—YOUR FANS! You keep your sunglasses on as you walk in the front door, head down, but the manager recognizes you anyway. You try to finish your last call as you are whisked away to the greenroom, offered your favorite drink, and escorted to the book signing table. It’s covered with a red velvet cloth, piled high with copies of YOUR book, and there are scores of fans jostling for position behind the velvet ropes to make sure they get their books signed by the author—YOU!

Cameras flash, your smile dazzles. You whip out your favorite pen and start signing as fast as you can, murmuring words of gratitude in response to the exclamations of love and adulation from each reader.

Is this what it’s like to be a writer? You bet! Okay, maybe it’s not always like this—but it does happen. And, believe it or not, it can happen to you, especially if you start thinking of yourself as a writer now and doing the things real writers do. This book will help you—we promise.

Keep that thrilling, ultimate scenario in mind, but let’s get a bit more realistic for a few minutes. Look over the list below and circle what you really think it’s like to be a writer.

1. lonely

2. cool

3. strange

4. incredibly exciting

5. hard work

6. not like real work at all

7. boring

8. a life of riches

9. a life of poverty

10. people love you

11. people think you’re a geek

12. fun

13. frustrating

14. fantastic

15. scary

16. hilarious

17. eeeyew!

Let’s see what you think about writing:

• If you circled just even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, etc.), we love you! You have a positive attitude about writing. And you’re right . . . being a writer can be all of those things! (Although, to be honest, not all the time.)

• If you circled just odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, etc.), you’re right too. Being a writer can be tough, but it’s never as bad as that whole list. At least, not if you read this book first!

• If you circled all the items on the list, you are right on target—being a writer is often like all of these things at one point or another.

How One Author Got His Start

Michael Crichton’s books have sold over 150 million copies. In 1994, Crichton became the only creative artist ever to have works on the bestseller lists in television, movies, and books (with ER, Jurassic Park, and Disclosure, respectively). Believe it or not, the creator of Jurassic Park and ER first got published when he was a kid. We conducted the interview below in 2001. He passed away in 2008.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

My father was a journalist, so I grew up seeing him type to earn a living. His example made writing seem like a normal thing to do. I was attracted to writing from an early age and did a lot of it. I wrote for my high school and town newspapers, and for the college newspaper. Later on, in medical school, I started writing novels to pay my way through school.

I was fourteen years old when I published my first piece. On a family vacation I visited Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona, and I thought it was pretty interesting and that more people should know about it. My parents said that the Sunday New York Times travel section published articles by readers and suggested I write an article for the paper. So I sent in an essay—and they published it. I was very excited.

What advice would you give a young writer?

I always tell writers to write. If you think you’re interested in writing, just start writing. Write extra compositions for school assignments. Write for the school paper, the yearbook, or the town newspaper. Write articles. Write poetry. Write plays. Write anything you have a mind to, but write a lot.

This will help you learn how to do it—I believe writers are invariably self-taught. But equally important, you’ll also find out if you really like writing as much as you think you do. Although writing can be very satisfying, it’s a hard job, and a peculiar one. You’ve got to be self-disciplined, and you’ve got to tolerate being alone a lot. It’s a great life, but it’s not for everyone.

If you like to write, you are one of the luckiest people in the world. Writers shape thoughts into words, and those words can inspire, motivate, teach, and entertain those who read them. Have you ever read something that made you cry? If I Stay, Walk Two Moons, or Charlotte’s Web? Or maybe a story in a magazine about a terrible famine? How about something that made you angry? Scared? Happy? How about a book that you just couldn’t put down and had to finish under the covers long after midnight . . . perhaps a Harry Potter tale?

All of these stories started with writers. There are as many different kinds of writers as there are stories to tell. Writers don’t just write books either. When you watch ESPN to catch the sports scores, the reporters on those shows read scripts written by writers. Or when you watch your favorite sitcom, a writer did that as well. The words you read in advertisements and hear in the audio for video games were all carefully chosen by writers. There are novelists, bloggers, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, reporters, medical writers, copywriters, and technical writers, just to name a few. And the good news is that you can make a living as a writer. Your writing can take you all over the world if you choose, or you can create books in the comfort of your own home—even in your pj’s if you want!



Twenty-three-year-old Juli Weiner graduated from Barnabrd, a liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University, and works as a blogger for the magazine Vanity Fair.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve wanted to write professionally since middle school. I had become obsessed with early episodes of Saturday Night Live (1975–1980), and used to write comedy sketches in journals and take down notes while watching reruns on TV. Initially I was much more interested in screenwriting than journalism. After writing a satirical column for my high school paper, though, I came around to the idea that journalism and nonfiction writing could be just as colorful, voicey, and fun as creating characters.

What do you like to write the most and why?

My favorite type of writing to do—and, luckily, the type of writing I do most frequently—is political satire. I love following the news, sifting through sound bites to pinpoint something particularly absurd, and taking a faulty line of reasoning to its logical conclusion.

What are your goals for your writing future?

I’d love to challenge myself by doing longer pieces that involve more investigative reporting. As a blogger, I’m often strapped for time and don’t get to include as many details in my pieces, interviews, and research as I would be able to if I wrote for a weekly or monthly magazine. I also would love to do a story that involves sneaking around, using a...