- Having had a professional awakening as the result of these steps,
we will guard our new knowledge jealously. Why give the up-and-coming
competition a break?
As well, Bruce Bethke tries to impart his writing wisdom
through the blog (as well as through this “12 Step Program” article) as he did here,
in this short series of articles which he updated from a previous series of
articles on how to escape the Slush Pile: http://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-slush-pile-survival-guide_23.html.
The sole purpose of his old blog, The Friday Challenge, (Originally
posted Friday, May 25, 2012): “After what was then 25 years of
being a successful, published, professional writer and two-term member of the
SFWA Board of Directors, I was getting a constant stream of email from a
tremendous number of people who couldn't seem to find the answer to one very
simple question: How do I become a writer? Because they couldn't find
this answer, these people collectively were wasting a lot of time, money, and
energy on self-help books, seminars and workshops, and college-level creative writing
programs, all in a desperate search for that tightly held secret...”
Before THAT was The Ranting Room, whose purpose was to
create a forum for “Practical
discussions of the craft, trade, and business of writing. No politics. No
gossip. No cute cat stories.”
So of all the 12 Steps, this is perhaps where Bruce Bethke
buries his tongue most deeply in his cheek.
Truth? It’s been my experience that those who are funniest
are deflecting attention from themselves to what they are saying – and for the
most part, what they are saying has to do with the people to whom they are
speaking. The funniest writers I know avoid the word “I” unless it’s grammatically
necessary. Even then, they speak not only of us and me, but the focus of
their career is on others.
I’ve observed this in several writers: David LaRochelle is
one: I have worked with him both as a summer school teacher and as a presenter.
His willingness to critique my daughter’s art and provide a recommendation for
a scholarship had a profound impact on both her art and her college experience.
Every interaction I’ve seen him involved with, his attention is focused on
helping the individual.
Another one I’ve seen do this is Julie Czerneda: her blog is
always positive, she regularly teaches workshops for writers and without my
asking, she offered to read my novel when it was done.
Authors whose interest is in themselves, who regularly
rebuff people who ask for help, and whose favorite word is “I”...well, the fact
is that those authors are just as well known. They are the ones who appear to have
taken Bruce Bethke’s 12 Steps to heart and are EXACTLY the kind of writer he
represented in these steps.
My every effort should I ever become well-published and “famous”,
will be to be like LaRochelle, Czerneda, and other speculative fiction writers
whose efforts are clearly to “give the up-and-coming competition a break.”
And when I accept my first Nebula, I will make sure that the names Bruce Bethke, Julie Czerneda, David LaRochelle, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Lynn Veihl, Nathan Bransford, Jack McDevitt, Mike Duran, and Lin Oliver are all a big part of that speech.
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