Do You/Have You Dabbled in Any Other Mediums?

Radio and the web along with the pair of novels that both got stuck in Chapter 4 that I swear I'll comeback to someday.

 

That means there's no way you can be Mitch Albom then ...

 

Writing Irish is Jayson Blair.

 

Nope. I'd love to have that cockfuck's bank account, but looking in the mirror every morning and knowing you're not a fraud or a douche is worth more than all the bank in the world.

 

Very nice. Very nice.

 

I've dabbled in poetry and I have three chapters of an incredibly shitty book written (haven't touched in three years). I've also done some TV, if being somebody's on-air talent for a class project counts.

 

I think we're all better for trying everything. I got into sports by chance, and have a creative writing degree in poetry, which I still write, occasionally publish and have even been paid for. Poetry informs everything I write, because I hear the words. I think, as writers, one should always have somewhere to experiment. I've also written a non sports nonfiction book, done various TV, radio, and documentary talking head stuff. And I've been a security guard, a painter, a construction worker, a ghost writer, a janitor and all sorts of other things. It all feeds into what I do, because you can never predict where insight, empathy, inspiration or motivation come from.

 

Beware of the medium you choose because the medium is the message.

 

I want to write fiction very badly, but it's tough to break into because the short story mags basically won't buy your stuff unless you have an MFA or are in an MFA program. It's just a way for MFA profs to trade favors with each other.

You're almost better off going straight for a novel, where it's all about money and whether you're book is good enough to make money and the ass kissing at the little pubs level doesn't play into it so much.