Excerpt for:

Goodness Gracious!

                    I Couldn’t Even Type!

           So you want to be an author?  Many people enjoy writing but few ever seem to become authors – and especially authors whose books sell.  The key to professional authoring is marketing those words you so carefully arrange on otherwise meaningless sheets of paper.  If you want to write successfully – be it a novel or a non-fiction book – then you need My Goodness!  I Couldn’t Even Type!

            Good Gosh!  I Couldn’t Even Type! is geared to new authors who would like to see their book in print.  It’s also directed at more experienced authors who haven’t yet tasted the unmatchable sweetness of this creative line of endeavor -- seeing their masterpiece on the shelf of a book store. 

           “You are what you write” is often the motto of the uninitiated. Perhaps so, if only at the moment you are writing your book.  But always remember that the western adventure author such as Zane Gray is seldom if ever a retired cowhand.  Some have never been out west!

           Mystery and suspense writers aren’t all frustrated private detectives or attorneys with criminal law experience although this was the case with the author of Helter Skelter, Vincent Bugliosi.  He gained worldwide fame as the brilliant attorney who successfully prosecuted Charles Manson and his followers for the heinous murder of actress Sharon Tate and others.

           War stories are more often than not written by men or women who haven’t even been in the military!  Stephen Crane won international acclaim for his 1895 Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage.  He wrote this book without any battlefield experience.  HHelter

       Those who write about organized crime aren’t members of the Mafia.  An example of this is Mario Puzo who wrote The Godfather.        

          And Truman Capote who wrote In Cold Blood certainly wasn’t a detective or a cop.
          Nor was Frederick Forsythe a member of the French secret service, yet he wrote the acclaimed Day of the Jackal!   

           Within the realm of being an author lies one of life’s most important lessons to be learned.  Adaptability!  An author must be able to adapt to new ideas, to people, to people’s ideas.

           A sense of purpose must be carefully balanced with open-mindedness.

           The acceptance of outside influences tends to solidify our own convictions and define our standards.

          Association does not imply compromise.

          Persuasion needs not lead to capitulation.

         Knowledge isn’t necessarily the harbinger of change.

           Authoring a book isn’t a mysterious, romance-cloaked pursuit, except by those who tell everyone they would like to write a book but never do.  It’s a business, pure and simple!

           Ernest Hemingway once stated: “I write books for money”    And so should all other budding as well as published authors.  Yet writing is extremely personal,  intense, emotional and demanding.  But to utilize it to the fullest, writing must develop into and remain a business.

           “The writer who is a real writer,” said William Saroyan, “is a rebel who never stops.”

           Good Gosh!  I  Couldn’t Even Type! is carefully designed for all aspiring authors who simply won’t be satisfied until they’re finally published.  And its also geared to the needs of already published authors.  

         Good Gosh!  I  Couldn’t Even Type! contains innumerable successful methods, suggestions and concrete examples based on more than 40 years experience and overwhelming success in the field of freelance writing and authoring books.  It isn’t composed merely of untested theories. 

           Topics include tips on how to construct a novel or nonfiction book; finding the right publisher for your work; successfully querying to catch an editors interest; obtaining an agent; avoiding those rackets aimed at would-be authors who are in the process of developing their dream book as well as those fortunate enough to have already had their book or books published and much, much more.. 

         Good Gosh!  I  Couldn’t Even Type! is a most exciting book.  It’s slanted toward unheralded writers who would like to get paid for their work and see their name on the jacket of a book or accompanying a magazine article or short story. 

             And it’s also directed at the more experienced writer who has already had the unmatchable thrill of being published and seeing their name in print.!   

          Here’s an outline of what is included in the book:

   1.  The Beginning of a Glorious New Career                            

   2.  Desperately Needing a Change of Pace!                              

   3.  Selling Articles to Get Some Quick Cash             

   4.  Annual Trips to Meet Editors                    

   5.  A Major Change -- Typewriters to Computers          
   6.   More on My Writing Career                   

   7.   Trips Cross-Country as a Writer                       

   8.    My Disastrous First and Last Book Store

                                Book Signing Experience                   

   9.    A Series of Wonderful Writing Years!           

10.   The End and a New Beginning                   

11.   No!  It Wasn’t Over Yet!                             

12.   Books I Have Had Published                     

13.   Syndicated Newspaper Columns                

14.  Voodoo Van Cross-Country Trip                

15.   Comparisons Between Methods of Book Publishing       

16.  Don’t Think in a Box                                     

17.  Understanding and Surviving` Rejections   

18.  How to Do a Bibliography                           

 19.  Pet Peeves of Magazine and Book Editors