Monday, April 4, 2016

Bon Voyage



It’s been said that an adventure is what happens when something goes wrong. 

Building your career will be an adventure, and things will go wrong along the way. Let your goals keep you inspired, and change them if you wish. 

You are what you want as well as what you do. Bon voyage!
--Michael Larsen



I attended a workshop presented by #Michael Larsen this past Saturday. Michael Larsen with and his wife, Elizabeth Pomada, have the oldest Literary Agency in San Francisco. Unfortunately, they are no longer taking clients. Larsen's role now is to help writers.  

I gleaned some words of wisdom. Here are some: 

First,  the six commandments for a writer: (Used to be twelve, but the writer met his editor on the way down the mountain.)

The commandments are: "Read, read, read, Write, write, write."


From Larsen’s blog:

John Perkins, author of Hoodwinked:  asked his audience to do one thing every day to make the world better. More than ever before, we have the opportunity, not just to make a living, but to make a difference. It’s easier than ever for the right idea and the right book to change the world, and the Web and the smartphone put the world at our fingertips.

Perkins said that when Rachel Carson sat down in her Pennsylvania home to write The Silent Spring about how DDT was harming the planet, she had no idea she was writing a bestseller that would become a classic, rid the world of DDT, and start the international environmental movement.

If you speak, write, or work in the other arts, your passion and your gift for capturing the challenges we face and proposing solutions will make a difference. But whatever you do for a living, you can make a difference.

I did have a realization while I have been railing that paper books are being replaced with tech-readers, tech has taken the drudgery out of writing. Viola' the computer--the word processor, spell check.


"One useless man is a disgrace, two are a law firm, and three or more are a Congress."

--John Adams in the musical 1776

More later, check in. I'm in the process of assimilating.