Write what you know

To be a writer, write what you know.

Don't write a murder mystery that happens in Antarctica unless you've been there. If you've spent a year a the scientific outpost there and been involved in the life of the place, then go ahead.

On the other hand, think of what you do know about. I, for example, have a Ph. D. in history and spent 8 years or so in graduate school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. I would have been well qualified to write a mystery about a graduate student who's murdered for her dissertation topic.

Or I could have written a non-fiction book about being in graduate school. Or about an academic trying to make it in the business world.

Would these have been any good, or would anyone have bought them? Well those are different questions.

My goal here is to help writers achieve their dreams. How am I doing?

Entrepreneurship fuels my writing. For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

To get a piece of short fiction published, go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com. It's for short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, short scripts, short plays, or other creative writing. Publication is guaranteed upon payment of a modest fee.

Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.

For my ideas on buying or selling a house, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.