Peace Corps Worldwide

Novelist Kurt Vonnegut once remarked that, “Talent is extremely common. What is rare is the willingness to endure the life of a writer. It is like making wallpaper by hand for the Sistine Chapel.” How do you know if you are a writer? Perhaps it is a single incident – one that happens early in life and shapes the writer’s sense of wonder and self-awareness. Take the case of José Saramago, the first Portuguese-language writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The son of a peasant father and an illiterate mother, brought up in a home with no books, he took almost 40 years to go from metalworker to civil servant to editor in a publishing house to newspaper editor. He was 60 before he earned recognition at home and abroad with Baltasar and Blimunda. As a child, he spent vacations with his grandparents in a village called Azinhaga. . . .

I know it is not easy to write a book, not when you have a full time job, family, and other responsibilities. Most writers have had to carry on two lives while they wrote. The poet Wallace Stevens was a vice president of an insurance company and an expert on the bond market. The young T.S. Eliot was a banker. William Carlos Williams a pediatrician. Robert Frost a poultry farmer. Hart Crane packed candy in his father’s warehouse, and later wrote advertising copy. Stephen Crane was a war correspondent. Marianne Moore worked at the New York Public Library. James Dickey worked for an advertising agency. Joe Heller, author of Catch 22, worked for a magazine, selling advertising. Archibald MacLeish was Director of the Office of Facts and Figures during World War II. Stephen King was teaching high school English when he wrote Carrie. Novelist Jennifer Egan author of a novel . . .

Why listen to me? That is a good question.  Here is why you should take my advice on how to write a book in 100 days. Here are some of my qualifications. I have written 25 published book, fiction, non-fiction, collections, guide books, instructional books. I have written award winning and New York Times Best Seller novels of mystery, horror, romance, historical fiction, and fiction, and non-fiction about golf: www.johncoynebooks.com. I wrote all of these books within a three month period. My novels have been published in eight foreign countries. (I also wrote 7 novels before publishing one and could paper a wall with the rejection slips I have received from some of the best magazines and publishing companies in the world! I know what it means to get rejected.) I have two degrees in English literature and have taught creative writing at the high school, college level, and on . . .

Are you a writer? Do you want to write a book? Do you have a great story that you need to tell? Do you read a novel and say to yourself, “I could have written that book, and I could have written it better! Is there this nagging thought in the back of your mind that has been telling you all your life: write your story! Do you really want to stop reading and start writing your book, whether it is a novel, a memoir or non-fiction. Do you ask yourself: Do I want to write my novel? Do you ask yourself: When will I tell my story? Do you ask yourself: How will I write my book? The why is easily answered. And you can answer those questions. You know you will never be satisfied if you don’t sit down and do it. You’re secretly tired of people saying, . . .

Literary Agents React! By Jeff Rivera on Nov 11, 2009 12:43 PM Miriam Goderich of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management responded in their blog to the GalleyCat posted back in November entitled, Literary Agents, bah! Who needs them? by stating: “Who needs an agent? You do.” In her well-respected blog she also mentioned: “every serious author needs an agent. Not just any agent, of course. You need a good agent. One who is an advocate, who is willing to fight for you and who is able to tell you when you’re being unreasonable and doing your career more harm than good.” And that was not all — emails, comments and tweets have come pouring in from agents, writers and other book publishing professionals with a resounding, “Yes, we do need agents.” Deidre Knight of the Knight Agency says, “Many agents, myself included, believe that the digital age is bringing opportunity. . . .

By Jeff Rivera on Nov 10, 2009 02:54 PM CrainsNewYork.com reports that Amazon.com wined and dined a number of prominent literary agents at their home-base in Seattle, Washington to convince the agents that they are not the “evil empire” but rather willing to work with them as the publishing industry makes its full-fledged transition into the digital revolution. The fact that Amazon.com had to have this discussion with literary agents brings up the question, will literary agents even exist in the near future? Are literary agents even necessary nowadays when a writer can upload their manuscript to the Kindle service or Smashwords and sell their books directly to the consumer? “There will be a need for literary agents,” says Nicholas Croce of The Croce Agency, “Agents … offer informed advice and camaraderie during the inevitable ups and downs that all writers experience. I don’t think technology will ever put this . . .