January 6, 2006
Well, it's a day early, but happy birthday to me.

Another year, another 365 days older, I'll be 42 on January 7.

It's been a good year. I and my family are happy and healthy. I'm doing a job that I love and managing to get the bills paid at the same time.

As the phlebotomist at my doctor's office yesterday commented, "You're blessed." She was actually referring to the fact that I didn't have to commute back and forth to work, especially if it was snowing, but actually she was right, I am blessed.

I started writing seriously when I was 21. Twenty-one years later I'm a full-time writer. I'm getting novels published. I guess the stick-to-it scenario worked, although it was a significantly slower process than I would ever have guessed.

If you want to be a full-time writer, I think I can give you a few hints as to how to get there. For what they're worth:

1. Make sure it's what you want to do. Part-time or on-the-side is more fun and you don't have to rely on it to pay the bills. Editors and publishers of all stripes don't necessarily pay when you want them to or as much as they should.

2. Try to write every day. If you can't or don't want to do this, don't bother with full-time writing.

3. It's a numbers game. I get rejections often. I get no-responders often. When actively marketing, I send out tons of materials with the expectation that I'll only get a positive response about 1 in 12 times. Luckily, I've built up a steady clientele, but it took me nearly a year of full-time writing to do it.

4. Act like a professional. Think where you want your career to be and act as if you're there.

5. Never miss a deadline. Ever. This is why God invented caffeine.

6. Leverage your strengths. Go back to write what you know. If you're a parent, try to write about parenting topics. If you have a medical background, write about health and medicine. If you have a business background, write about business issues. Does that mean you'll be locked into them? No. I'm not. But it's how you break in, built up a reputation, and build your clips portfolio, which quickly becomes the very heart of your business. [caveat: write what you're interested in. You won't always be interested in what you're writing about, but while you're writing about it, be interested in it. If you're a lawyer interested in writing about health issues, start by writing about the legal aspects of medicine and work your way into more health and scientific issues.}

7. Learn to write well. You'd be surprised how many aspiring writers neglect this one.

8. Take editing and criticism gracefully. Do I? Yes. Always? No. Do the editors know when I don't? Absolutely not! To editors I try to be 100% gracious, professional, polite, and responsive. I may curse their name and assault their mother's sexual habits in the privacy of my office, but never, ever to them. (And it's fairly rare for me to go to that length either. Life's too short. Solve the problem or move on).

9. Utilize technology. It's your friend. Learn how to use your computer. Learn how to create PDF files and utilize them for clips. Learn about formatting (both computer and manuscript) and how to give editors materials they want in the formats they want (both manuscript and computer).

10. Pay attention to your client's needs. Learning what a client wants allows you to give it to them. Once you work for them, pay attention to what they said about your work, how they edited, how it was published and other issues. That way, when you work for them again or pitch to them again, you can supply their needs without them asking for it. They will value you for it.

11. Become a businessperson and a marketing expert. Once you accept money for your work, you've become a businessperson. Think you're an artist? Fine. Be an artist. But run your artist business like a business. Meet deadlines, send out professional invoices, keep records, pay taxes, respond quickly and professionally to correspondence. That goes for marketing as well. It's part of running a business. Decide what your comfort level is for marketing, then push the boundaries a bit. Work slightly outside your comfort zone. Don't like public speaking? Do a little bit anyway. Don't like cold calls? Do a few anyway. Eventually you'll get used to it.

12. Enjoy it. If it ain't fun and you aren't makin' money off it, seriously reconsider what you're doing. Life is short. It's not a dress rehearsal. As Al says in the movie SAHARA, "maybe we need to sit down and re-evaluate our decision-making paradigm."

Best,
Mark Terry