Writers, Writers Everywhere but . . .

I got an advertisement in the mail today for a writing cruise. If I don't want to float around in the ocean listening to lectures on how to write from people I've never heard of then I can sign up for mini-conferences in almost any state and hear lectures on how to write from people I've never heard of. I keep asking myself -- what do I have to sell? I need a little extra cash too!

I think what really bugs me is that too many people want to be spoon-fed. That's why the writing business is BIG business. Wannabes aren't taking the initiative to teach themselves. My goodness, we have more how-to books than we know what to do with. We have great magazines like The Writer and Writer's Digest. We have the Internet where one can find all kinds of articles on any subject that has to do with writing. And writer's groups are everywhere. In my day, there weren't any clubs for writers. I started my own-just one other wannabe and me. And we grew to three, and six and ten and twenty-five. If you're ever in Longview, Texas, check out the East Texas Writers Association. It's mine. :)

I have no idea where people get the money to enter one contest after another. Twenty or twenty-five dollar entry fees add up fast. Multiply that by five or six. Wouldn't six no-shows be depressing? Conference fees are outrageous and so are professional membership fees. I feel sorry for beginning writers just learning the ropes. For that matter, I feel sorry for my husband who supports this writing habit of mine.

The writing business is big business, all right. And that's okay as long as every young writer who pays for something, gets something worthwhile in return.

As for me and my house, if we had something to sell, we'd probably give it away.


Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Leviticus 19:35

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:12