Vicki Hambleton - So, You Want to Be a Writer?. How to Write, Get Published, and Maybe Even Make It Big

W hether you want to win the Pulitzer Prize, be a bestselling mystery author, or write just for fun, So, You Want to Be a Writer? will help your writing dreams come true!

With equal doses of inspirational insight and how-to instruction, authors Vicki Hambleton and Cathleen Greenwood take the budding author in you and show you the path to real success. Covering everything from finding where your passions lie in genres to how to create the perfect proposal to send out to agents and publishers, Vicki and Cathleen give you the write tools to become the writer you always wanted to be.

Packed full with resources, along with priceless tips from successful authors like Michael Crichton , Amanda Hocking , and Chris Crutcher , this book will reveal the mysteries and glamour of being a bestselling author and will keep you inspired during your own journey.

Vicki Hambleton is the founding editor of Parenting TEENS . Her writing has appeared in Cobblestone , Calliope , Footsteps , and Careers and Colleges . She currently tutors teens in writing.

Cathleen Greenwood is a teacher of middle-school and high school English and language arts, and has helped countless students submit their work to magazines, publishers, and contests. She is a consultant for the National Council of Teachers of English and loves to see young writers in print.

Jacket design by Sara E. Blum
Jacket photos copyright 2012
by Beyond Words/Aladdin

BEYOND WORDS/ALADDIN

Simon & Schuster, New York

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This Aladdin/Beyond Words edition May 2012

Copyright 2001, 2012 by Vicki Hambleton and Cathleen Greenwood

About Wishing Copyright 2001 by Matthew Stepanek

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Nothing in this book is intended, or should be construed as a guarantee that any of the opinions expressed will result in income for children. The materials in this book is not intended to provide legal opinions, tax opinions, or advice.

ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Beyond Words Publishing is a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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Managing Editor: Lindsay S. Brown
Copyeditor: Sheila Ashdown
Proofreader: Gretchen Stelter
Design: Sara E. Blum
The text of this book was set in Bembo.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hambleton, Vicki.
So, you want to be a writer? : how to write, get published, and maybe even make
it big! / Vicki Hambleton, Cathleen Greenwood.
p cm.
Rev. ed. of: So, you wanna be a writer?
1. AuthorshipJuvenile literature. 2. AuthorshipMarketingJuvenile literature.
3. AuthorshipVocational guidanceJuvenile literature. I. Greenwood,
Cathleen. II. Hambleton, Vicki. III. Title. So, you wanna be a writer?
PN159.H28 2012
808.02dc23

2011046252

ISBN 978-1-58270-353-4 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-58270-359-6 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-4424-5291-6 (eBook)

Y ou pull into the parking lot of your favorite bookstore, knowing that this time its not going to be just to meet your buddies. Someone else is expecting youYOUR FANS! You keep your sunglasses on as you walk in the front door, head down, but the manager recognizes you anyway. You try to finish your last call as you are whisked away to the greenroom, offered your favorite drink, and escorted to the book signing table. Its covered with a red velvet cloth, piled high with copies of YOUR book, and there are scores of fans jostling for position behind the velvet ropes to make sure they get their books signed by the authorYOU!

Cameras flash, your smile dazzles. You whip out your favorite pen and start signing as fast as you can, murmuring words of gratitude in response to the exclamations of love and adulation from each reader.

Is this what its like to be a writer? You bet! Okay, maybe its not always like thisbut it does happen. And, believe it or not, it can happen to you, especially if you start thinking of yourself as a writer now and doing the things real writers do. This book will help youwe promise.

Keep that thrilling, ultimate scenario in mind, but lets get a bit more realistic for a few minutes. Look over the list below and circle what you really think its like to be a writer.

1. lonely

2. cool

3. strange

4. incredibly exciting

5. hard work

6. not like real work at all

7. boring

8. a life of riches

9. a life of poverty

10. people love you

11. people think youre a geek

12. fun

13. frustrating

14. fantastic

15. scary

16. hilarious

17. eeeyew!

Lets see what you think about writing:

If you circled just even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, etc.), we love you! You have a positive attitude about writing. And youre right... being a writer can be all of those things! (Although, to be honest, not all the time.)

If you circled just odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, etc.), youre right too. Being a writer can be tough, but its never as bad as that whole list. At least, not if you read this book first!

If you circled all the items on the list, you are right on targetbeing a writer is often like all of these things at one point or another.

How One Author Got His Start

Michael Crichton s books have sold over 150 million copies. In 1994, Crichton became the only creative artist ever to have works on the bestseller lists in television, movies, and books (with ER , Jurassic Park , and Disclosure , respectively). Believe it or not, the creator of Jurassic Park and ER first got published when he was a kid. We conducted the interview below in 2001. He passed away in 2008.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

My father was a journalist, so I grew up seeing him type to earn a living. His example made writing seem like a normal thing to do. I was attracted to writing from an early age and did a lot of it. I wrote for my high school and town newspapers, and for the college newspaper. Later on, in medical school, I started writing novels to pay my way through school.

I was fourteen years old when I published my first piece. On a family vacation I visited Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona, and I thought it was pretty interesting and that more people should know about it. My parents said that the Sunday New York Times travel section published articles by readers and suggested I write an article for the paper. So I sent in an essayand they published it. I was very excited.