Lessons from Po Bronson

A random stroll through my library landed a fascinating book on my bedside table recently: Po Bronson's What Should I Do With My Life? It's probably a pity I hadn't found it earlier in life, but reading the stories of dozens of people who'd changed careers and directions (some more than once) and had more or less found ways to be happy really resonated with me.

Personally, I'm at a stage where I love - really, really love - what I do to earn a living - both teaching and writing. I wouldn't want to give up either of them. I can't imagine life as a full-time writer, sitting at my computer all day, and missing all the inspiring experiences I have with my students. Equally, I'd probably burnout fast if I was only focussed on life inside the classroom.

But the point of this post is something else. On Po Bronson's website I found his Advice on Writing and the Writing Life and have already extracted a few useful and reassuring statements:

• It takes an average of ten years dedication before you can make a living writing creatively full time.
• Create outlines but don’t stick to them. Revise your outlines half way through and then shortly before the end. Never stick to them.
  
• Understand voice. Write the same sentence ten different ways by imitating the writing voices of ten different writers.
  
• Practice plots. Understand different ways to tell the same story – the difference between hiding a surprise and foreshadowing it, for instance. Starting a story in the middle versus its natural beginning, et cetera. Learn what creates suspense, forward lean, keeps the pages turning.
  

And finally, something I'm sometimes guilty of, when I blather on about the rubbish that often makes its way onto bestseller lists:

Don’t be a snob. It’s good for people to read, so whatever they read, no matter what it is, be glad they're reading.