| Here's something from my mailbag. "Dear Michael, do | | | | suffering partial paralysis, authors with various |
| you need to do good in school if you want to be a | | | | psychoses, authors who deal with more than one of |
| writer? I stink at school and all my friends laugh at | | | | these obstacles. What they overcome makes my |
| me when I tell them I want to write, but I'm serious." | | | | complaint, that I'm too left-brained to be in this |
| Followed by a sentence or two of "I need your | | | | business, seem absolutely pathetic. And yours, about |
| words to encourage me" or some such nonsense. | | | | doing poorly in school. I could cite you a VERY long |
| Fortunately, a writing sample is rarely attached. If it | | | | list of authors who did poorly in school. If I did my |
| is, either it's excellent or it stinks like rancid yak | | | | job as an editor, you'll never know who they are |
| butter. There's a lot of middle ground in the writing | | | | unless I call them out by name. And I won't. Probably |
| world, of course, but for some reason it never | | | | because I can't remember them all. (I'm joking. Editor |
| seems to accompany these emails. The message is | | | | author confidentiality protects them, even if it exists |
| usually (but not always) so filled with errors that I'm | | | | only in my imagination.) Our emailer then mentions |
| not gonna reprint them here or correct them when I | | | | that her friends laugh at her when she tells them she |
| reply lest I destroy some sensitive soul like a | | | | intends to write. Why does she care? I've lost count |
| jackhammer to an eggshell. (It's ridiculous that I | | | | of how many projects I've undertaken despite |
| should even have such power, being a stranger and | | | | criticism. Not just writing, either. Life. But let me |
| all.) Let's move on to the relevant part, the question, | | | | narrow my focus just so I can end this rant. You |
| which actually contains several. This writer gets bonus | | | | have a reason for writing. You know what it is, even |
| points for brevity. Do you have to be good in school? | | | | if you can't put it into words. I can't put it into words. |
| Given what's passing for English in some places, I'd | | | | ("It" can mean your reason OR mine in that |
| certainly like to see more effort given to school. If | | | | sentence.) But it's there. Why do you give a rat's |
| you're a student reading this, please try to learn | | | | backside how many people tell you not to even try? |
| something while you can. If you aspire to be an | | | | People who I doubt have even read your writing, I |
| author and you did poorly in school, or if you're just | | | | might add. Your classmates won't understand why |
| plain uneducated, don't let it stop you. What we do | | | | you write. Nor your friends. Nor your family. You're |
| as authors isn't taught in school. They teach | | | | lucky if you find ten non-writers in your lifetime who |
| grammar, and bless them. I can't teach that subject. | | | | have a clue. And you don't care. You just write. If |
| If you're very fortunate, as I was, you'll stumble | | | | you're ever lucky enough to "arrive," then all the |
| across some teachers who teach you how to think. | | | | doubters will claim to understand why you write. And |
| But thinking is the beginning of writing, not the end, | | | | they'll all be wrong. Also, by the time someone out |
| and grammar can be fixed later if you find some | | | | there is embracing your work, you'll already be three |
| long-suffering editor (like me) willing to do it. In other | | | | books beyond it and sick of hearing about your old |
| words, school can help you with the first step or two | | | | trash. No, it won't be trash, but you'll think of it that |
| of your journey to be an author. Considering how | | | | way. There's a big time lapse between creation and |
| many steps come after those, don't be discouraged | | | | that Oprah interview. What I never write to those |
| by test results and report cards. To distill what you | | | | emailers is this. I shouldn't have to tell you why you |
| think, feel and believe from all the trash floating | | | | write. You don't need my vindication or anyone else's. |
| around in your head, and then to actually put that on | | | | If those who haven't even read your work can |
| paper the way you mean to put it, is a skill that only | | | | discourage you, maybe you should give up. Or do an |
| comes from years of practice. They don't teach it in | | | | Emily Dickinson and leave it all for people to find after |
| school. At least, no school I've ever attended. I | | | | you die. But I can tell you this. If you'll let something |
| struggled at this for 20 years or so after I graduated | | | | as silly as your grades in school stop you from even |
| from college. That's where I learned to write. Not in a | | | | beginning to write in the first place, nothing you have |
| classroom. In my travels through the Matrix, I've met | | | | to write is worth finding after you die. And if you're |
| blind authors, deaf authors, dyslexic authors, authors | | | | angry at me for saying it, good. Prove me wrong. |
| writing in a second or third language, authors | | | | Write a book. |