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Writing for Fun and Profit

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Writing for Fun & Profit: What’s Stopping You?

So you want to write. What’s stopping you? Most writers are halted at the outset by lack of knowledge. How about you?

People tell me they know what they want to write, but don’t know how; or they know how to write, but they don’t know what to say or how to say it; or they know how and what to write, but they don’t know how to publish. Or they think that publishing is impossible. Or at least too difficult.

To the extent any of these statements are even a little bit true, they are all as easily dispatched.

I believe that anyone with the desire to write has at least some talent for writing.

Aspiring writers often worry that they have no talent. Often, they think talented writers rise to the top and the rest simply wallow in unfulfilled desire. Again, not true.

While talent is important, talent alone will never propel anyone in any field of endeavor. What is essential is to develop the talent you do have and make the most of it.

Aspiring writers believe “everyone wants to write,” or “the field is too crowded,” or “I’m too [old, young, poor, fill-in-the-blank] to be successful because of all that competition.” Let’s look at these one at a time.

Everyone does not want to write. Trust me on this.

Millions of people don’t even want to read, let alone write. I’ve done countless book appearances in book stores and libraries where customers tell me “I don’t read.” Seems silly, doesn’t it? That someone would come into a bookstore or library and tell a published author that s/he doesn’t read? But it happens. All the time.

Sure, the field is competitive. What field worth participating in isn’t competitive? Aviation? Engineering? Medicine? Law? Politics? Sports? Simply because the field is competitive doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

New authors are published every day. It could just as well happen to you — but not if you don’t do the work. If you give up before you even start. Or if you give up before you get there.

You’re too [old, young, whatever] to “make it”? This is an excuse usually masking understandable fear of failure. Writing is a field that can be entered at any age from any station in life. No matter what your circumstance, you won’t be the first person to publish from that situation. If you doubt this, contact me with your specific “handicap” and I’ll give you at least one example of a person with that same “handicap” who has done what you seek to do.

Publishing your work is far easier today than it has ever been. While there are challenges to getting your work published today, by far the bigger challenge is finding readers who are willing to buy your published work. Finding readers who will read you for free is also challenging. But getting published? Not so much.

So you want to write? Next time, we’ll deal with the first hurdle every published writer must tackle: getting started.

Copyright: Why Writers (and everyone else) Should Care

Are your expressions property, the same as your car or your jewelry? Or is there some higher public interest your writings are meant to serve? Are these values mutually exclusive?

Copyright law is in a state of continuing development. Modern technology has made copyright violations of every stripe, whether in the form of e-mail, audio recording, music, fiction, non-fiction, film, news, magazines, graphic design, or any other form of expression easy… Continue reading

Fair Use in Fiction and NonFiction

Lawyers ask me all the time: What are the rules about copyright? What does it cover? When does it attach? Are there any exceptions? How long does it last? What are the consequences of violating another's copyright?

These questions seem simple, but they aren't. And the answers should be easy, but they're not. Nor is there one place where all such simple questions and easy answers are collected for authoritative… Continue reading

Intellectual Property - Yours, Mine & Ours

We should think about copyright and whether we are operating within the bounds of the law every time we put pen to paper or keystroke to keyboard.

Legal writing is usually technical and nonfiction. We use forms from various sources, we quote from cases, and we paraphrase statutes. We don't often consider whether we are infringing on a valid copyright. And usually, we're not.

Except when we are.

Not all writing… Continue reading

Building a Law Career Through Writing

All lawyers are writers, but not all lawyers focus on writing as a career builder. Developing your law career through writing for publication doesn't have to be dull, boring, or a total time drain.

Online publishing in various venues is a good place to start using writing to build a wider legal reputation that can lead to clients. Most law firms have blogs now and writing for the firm's blog… Continue reading

Kindle & Me

I love my Kindle. I resisted buying one until the second version was released and the price became more reasonable. Even then, the thing that pushed me into the purchase mode was using the Kindle app for a while on my iPhone. Before that, I'd wondered whether I would like reading on such a small screen. One of my stories, Surviving Toronto, had been available on… Continue reading

Can we protect our copyrighted content published online?

Common Questions; Uncommon Answers: Can we protect our copyrighted content published online? This is a common question. The uncommon answer is: You may not want to protect the content. Negotiating public attribution and compensation might be a better solution. Often folks who ask this question really want to know how they can stop people from copying our original content and using it elsewhere. Realize we can't control who does and doesn't steal our… Continue reading

When Time Travel Works

Although I have no desire to be seventeen again (or even twenty five or thirty five) I love time travel stories. The logic is always flawed, but the premise intrigues me every time.

What if we could as easily travel back in time as we travel now to other continents or into space?

I might visit my dad and have a nice long chat. Or maybe my grandparents.

Perhaps I'd see Hemingway in… Continue reading

Reading Fiction Changed My Life

Why do business, professional, and political folks read fiction? Maybe the best reason is that reading fiction is fun for us. It's how we relax, how we relate to the world. We're well educated and most of what we know we learned through reading. By this time, we're all adults and we've been reading for decades. We enjoy it.

We like the feel of books, the

Creating Great Comedy Through Dialogue

Are you watching the sitcom "Big Bang Theory?" It's fun and funny. Jim Parsons, the guy who plays Sheldon, is an acting genius. Watch his face and his body as he delivers his lines.  He was nominated for an Emmy this week, as well he should have been. I hope he wins, too.
 
The basic premise of the show is: "4 nerds and an actress babe." Despite this rather simplistic