{"id":728,"date":"2010-09-14T22:09:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-14T12:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/the-secret-to-becoming-a-famous-author\/"},"modified":"2021-02-02T10:25:40","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T23:25:40","slug":"the-secret-to-becoming-a-famous-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/09\/the-secret-to-becoming-a-famous-author\/","title":{"rendered":"The secret to becoming a famous author"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had an important job to do today. So I cleaned my desk.<\/p>\n

I couldn’t think about the important job – it was too hard. So I decided that the fact that I was unable to begin said job was all down to the fact that my desk was a bomb site and set about rectifying that situation immediately.<\/p>\n

In the course of my cleaning blitz, I unearthed an article that I’d printed off in March, intending to read immediately. Clearly that did not work out for me.<\/p>\n

However, as I was in major procrastinating mode and as the deadline for the important job ticked ever nearer, I decided that today was the perfect time to finally knock that article over.<\/p>\n

It was a series of the top 10 tips for writing by a collection of famous authors \u2013 think Margaret Atwood, Elmore Leonard, Roddy Doyle, \u00a0Jonathan Franzen \u2013 and includes everything from ‘get a good accountant’ to ‘don’t open a book with the weather’. (You’ll find it here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

One tip that comes up regularly \u2013 and is ubiquitous in ‘how to write’ guides the world over \u2013 is the Write Every Day maxim.<\/p>\n

At the recent RWA conference, one NY Times bestselling author repeated over and over that she got up, went to the gym, went home, and wrote about 2000 words. Every day.<\/p>\n

All I could think was that she clearly did not have small people insisting that she attend their assembly\/reading\/Easter Hat Parade.<\/p>\n

I write every day. Some days, I write up to 5000 words a day. More.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, these words are not confined to one particular project.<\/p>\n

Today, for example, I did some work on my important job. Some work on another important job (with a more forgiving deadline). I wrote a blog post. I wrote a letter to Mr6’s teacher explaining that I needed to drag him out of school and off to see a snoring specialist. I wrote three polite emails requesting interviews, one polite email following up a request for an interview, and several other emails organising my social life.<\/p>\n

I suspect that this is not quite what the famous authors had in mind.<\/p>\n

I think part of my problem can be found in Jonathan Franzen’s number eight tip: “It is doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction.”<\/p>\n

So I have decided to concentrate on the words of Margaret Atwood (one of my favourite writers): “Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak.”<\/p>\n

See, if more famous authors gave groundbreaking tips like this, we’d all be famous authors.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I\u2019m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I\u2019m the author of two epic middle-grade adventure series, The Mapmaker Chronicles and The Ateban Cipher, and a new \u2018almost history\u2019 detective series called the Maven & Reeve Mysteries (you\u2019ll find <\/em><\/strong>book #1 THE FIRE STAR here<\/em><\/strong><\/a>).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You can find out <\/em><\/strong>more about me here<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and <\/em><\/strong>more about my books here<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had an important job to do today. So I cleaned my desk. I couldn’t think about the important job – it was too hard. 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