Congratulations to Julie and Iswarisharma, winners of yesterday and today’s Christmas drawing!
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Here’s an interview with James Jean, a superb artist who has created work for comic books, magazines, and other media outlets. This is his website. Also, according to a friend of mine, Dr. Phil, Tiger Eye has been listed as “essential reading” by the Internet Review of Science Fiction. Cool!
A friend from law school recently asked some questions about my career path, and with his permission, I’m posting one of them: What did you have to do in practical terms to do something so unconventional?
I always knew what my dreams were, that I wanted to be a writer, and if you want something bad enough, you’ll do it.
In my case, the practical necessities of becoming a writer required that I sit down and write—keep writing—and then believe in myself enough to have the dream, to put myself at risk for failure. My love for what I was doing had to be bigger than my fear, and it was. And still is. Which is simplistic, I know. There are always going to be barriers—family, money, obligations—nor do I advocate rashness. It’s good to have a back-up plan. In my case, I’m a lawyer. If the writing doesn’t pan out, I’m fairly certain I can find a job somewhere. Though, to be honest, I think I would fight to the bitter end, kicking and screaming with a pen in one hand and a laptop in the other before it ever went that far.
Point is, if you want to be a writer—or a doctor, painter, firefighter, landscape architect, astronaut, whatever—if you want any kind of successful career, unconventional or otherwise—it helps to love what you are doing. Not everyone needs that kind of love to bring success into their lives. And some just aren’t ever lucky enough to find it—or act on it. But it helps. It keeps your engine running even when it’s time to stop.