Have recently received some simple, yet valuable advice from accomplished writers that I respect. Bill Heyen says 'keep scribbling' and Raul daSilva says 'just hammer away.' He also said one of his books was rejected 67 times before it was accepted by a publisher. I guess the 68th time is the charm.

I co - atuhored two books when I was working in academics. It is easier to publish books than it is to publish journal papers. It often takes a year or more to write a paper. Once you submit it to an academic journal, it is sent out to three outside reviewers; and then you wait, usually a few months; each reviewer gives feedback (extensive, sometimes hostile) and suggests whether your paper should be 'accepted,' 'rejected' or 'revised and resubmitted.' Rarely is it accepted. You hope for a revise and resubmit. Then you make all the changes and submit it again, go through another round of reviews and, hopefully, two or more years after you first sat down to write the paper, it is accepted. If you're lucky it is read by a lot of your colleagues and perhaps some important others. And then you put it on your CV. Longest CV wins.

Both books I co - wrote were accepted by publsihers in less than six months. No agents. You submit a proposal and it's a simple thumbs up or thumbs down. You work directly with an editor. Things are much simpler. Depending on how long it takes to write the book, it can be in print in less time than it takes to get a paper published.

Writing is a marathon. I find that fiction writing is an even more daunting marathon because it is so hard to get anyone's attention. You send your work out into the void and sometimes no one responds or, more often than not, if they respond it's usually to reject what you've written. So, what's a writer to do? Keep scribbling and hammer away.

Long distance runners experience a runner's high. Not being a long distance runner, I can't imagine getting high while running, although I can imagine passing out from pain and exhaustion. I do, though, experience a writer's high. It happens when I sit alone in front of my computer, no one else around, and tap out a scene from a story, or sometimes just a really well - shaped sentence or metaphor or phrase. When the story talks back to me, I know I'm in the zone, or I'm having my writer's high. I am lucky because this happens often. I seldom have writer's block. But I often have 'getting published block.'