I’ve been line editing student stories for an upcoming writing workshop and thinking of Andy Ruiz Jr., the new world heavyweight boxing champion, whose trunks have the word DESTROYER emblazoned across the waist. Mine would say: DELETER.
In the past, writers focused on improving their writing. Today they work on growing their platforms.
An excerpt from my memoir: https://lithub.com/the-cold-war-love-story-of-a-would-be-travel-writer-almost-spy/
I recently saw my friend David, who is mentally preparing for his annual writing workshop at the end of the month. He explained that, because his last name begins with the letters ‘Be’, he is usually the first student up for critique. “And how better to impress the teacher,” he said, “than to attack the first story.”
I said to the photographer who was taking pictures at the event in Miami Beach: “I think it’s more difficult to make a living as a photographer these days than it is to make a living as a writer.”
“Yes,” he said. “You can’t buy an expensive pen and become a great writer.”