Dr. Phil counselled some poor slob and his desperate wife since said slob was writing a book and refused to get a job and support the family. Of course Philacious told him to get off his duff and get a job. I was supposed to feel sorry for the wife and the family. Instead I thought “Wow. Way to stand up for the brand, Dr. Dreamkiller.” He’ll trudge back to work and maybe the book will die and maybe it won’t, but despite the doc’s assurances, the dude’s chances of publication just went down. You could see it in his eyes. The wannabe (as best-selling Phil so graciously labelled him) just didn’t have a lot more energy to spare. Your other job can feed your passion or suck the creative life out of you. Be careful what you choose.*
BONUS:
Phil made some fallacious comparison of fiction to non-fiction. He told the guy he needed to submit a proposal rather than a full manuscript. Not in fiction you ain’t! When submitting fiction, you must have the full manuscript polished and prepared. Proposals are for non-fiction only, no exceptions.
DOUBLE BONUS:
Dean Koontz’s wife went to work and gave him five years to make write. If he didn’t make it in five years, she reasoned, he wasn’t going to make it. He did make it, of course, and his books are a testimony not so much to his hacking talent as his persistence. If you have enough time and persistence, talent counts less than we’d like to think. Make the time to write.
*Yes, I’m saying, if necessary, divorce your wife, leave the kids in a ditch and run away. They’ll understand eventually that you did it for Art. Yeah. That’ll go over well.
Filed under: Writers, writing tips, Dr. Phil. time to write, writers
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