TEST FOR WRITERS

This is a self-evaluation test for aspiring writers. Ask yourself the following questions. How many can you honestly answer yes to? Give them a lot of thought and take your time.

1. Did you--when young and before dreams and hopes for life were colored by the world, before you accrued a false sense of values, in those early idealistic years-—dream of writing?

2. Do you love to write? Is it a joy to you? Do you get inner joy and satisfaction from seeing your words on paper? The gifted writer is someone who has found something he loves to do so much that he would be willing to pay somebody else for the privilege of doing it.

3. Can you accept rejection? Can you submit to correction and to harsh criticism? This is the true test of a writer. The heart of the writer is submission--to his editor, to his book publishing company, to his readers. He will learn to enjoy correction--to be improved--though it’s painful. In every criticism there’s a nugget of truth.

4. Are you willing to live your life under the axe of the deadline? In dealing with deadlines, you’re going to be dealing with personal disciplines. In order to get it done, you’ll have to stop doing something else. You cannot create a book and do everything else at the same time. If I’m working on a book, I leave this world--I go off to another planet to get that done.

5. Do others enjoy reading what you’ve written? The blessing of good writing is that people enjoy reading what you have written. This is the real test of this matter. And if they enjoy it, they will buy it.

6. The test of solitude: There is no way to write except in solitude. Can you take the long stretches of isolation that are necessary to write? (The secret of getting started in the morning--stop in the middle the night before. Then you can keep it going.)

7. Are you the kind of person who continually seeks and sees and creates—-and do you grab hold of those things? There are stories in everything—-do you see those stories? Are you observant enough? It’s amazing what you hear when you are listening. The writer is always hearing those things--leaves rustling, crickets chirping...

8. Does writing (recording of life and events, not writing sermons) either yours or other people’s seem really important to you? In other words, do you feel disappointed when a story goes untold?

jbtest/8/l