By Cheryl Rushing

Title: On Writing
by Stephen King

I’m reading the Kindle edition.

My confession for this review is that I am not a fan of Stephen King.  I read about half of Pet Sematary in high school and it gave me nightmares.  On the recommendation of several other friends I tried reading a couple of other books by him and didn’t get very far. 

I purchased this book several years ago on the recommendation of a writers group and started reading it then.  It was very good, but life happened and the next thing I knew it was 2010 and the dusty paperback ended up in a garage sale.

And that brings us up to this past week, when I finally read it all the way through, nearly in one sitting. 

So why did I read it?  Well, in case you didn’t know, Stephen King is quite the prolific best-selling writer.  Again, I am not a fan, but if this guy is going to take time out from counting his millions to give me the secrets to his success, who am I to turn my back on that?

I like to meet and know people who have passion for what they do.  There is nothing more attractive in a person, and no one more interesting than someone who can wax eloquently over the minutiae of his or her job.  King is that passionate about writing.

The Kindle allows one to highlight passages and post them to Facebook or Twitter, or keeps them in a notepad in your Amazon account.  This is the only book so far where I think I highlighted something on every page.

King’s whole book can be boiled down to these two rules:

1.  To be a writer you must write.

2.  There are no other rules.

This is very simplified, of course.  The book is many pages of interesting biography, gleeful nose-thumbing at the establishment, and examples of how and when to follow actual guidelines.

While this book is focused primarily on fiction writing, it is a breath of fresh air for any writer who feels like they can’t or won’t or shouldn’t.  You want permission?  King will give it to you.

Do I recommend this book? Definitely. Sometimes we get bogged down by the rules, or thinking we’re not doing it right.  King’s philosophy of “who cares if you’re doing it right, just write!” is one we all need to hear sometimes.

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Image by ooh_food via Flickr

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

from On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft
by Stephen King

(review coming Monday!)

Image via Wikipedia

Time flies when you’re having fun.  Or doing whatever it is I’ve been doing since the beginning of January.  Where to begin?

I have been writing a bit, mostly SEO articles for paid blogging sites at other locations.  It usually results in gas and grocery money for the week, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less.

I’ve whored out my oldest blog to pretty much nothing but paid articles.  I won’t even link you because some of it’s lame.  The bad thing about those content mills is they don’t let you choose what you want to write about.  At this point the only thing I’m refusing to write about is diet pills (and by refuse I mean I ignore the assignment until it goes away).

I’ve also been doing a lot of reading.  I got a Kindle in April (yes, two months before the price drop), and after filling it with stories of wizards, vampires and werewolves, I started in with the self-help books.  These are the ones I am currently reading, and I will be sharing more about them in the coming blog posts:

The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated by Timothy Ferriss

On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft by Stephen King

The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman

If you’re still reading, thanks for hanging around waiting for me to come back.

Image by janusz l via Flickr

It’s been a long time since I posted here, which is probably the most obvious statement ever typed in a blog post.

Over the past several months I’ve been shifting my focus when it comes to writing.  You see, I always figured that to be a writer, you had to be writing a book.

Well, I’m writing a book.  Three, in fact.  Which, in case you are wondering, is about two too many for someone who can’t seem to finish anything that is longer than a magazine article.

I’ve also been involved with writers groups that mainly focused on writing books, not that there is anything wrong with that.  I’ve made some great friends and I’ve learned a lot.  The most important lesson I’ve learned is this:

Writing books doesn’t pay the bills unless you are Stephen King.  Or David Baldacci.  Or Danielle Steel.

I wrote for the school newspaper and the yearbook.  I started out as a journalism major in college.  I like writing short stories and articles.  These days, blog posts and other articles are where the money is.

Not that I am writing just for the money.  I do love to write, like I love to breathe.

I just spent two years working on a professional designation that gives me more credibility as a writer of articles in my chosen field, which is how I plan to get my foot in the door (thanks for the advice, Lisa!).  I’ve got the designation, and now it is going to be full speed ahead.

I’m also considering taking Angela Booth‘s course Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON).  If anyone has any information on this, I’d love to hear it.  I have yet to see a bad review and that makes me kind of suspicious!

If you’re still reading this blog, thanks for hanging in there.  More content soon!