Writing Books and Dieting Books, Similar

Writing Books and Dieting Books, Similar
Have you ever noticed the similarities between dieting books and books that teach writing? Every diet book declares it contains the ultimate solution. Same thing with writing books.

Fads
Dieting books ride a wave of fad that ends up crashing on the beach of reality. The authors of many dieting books have successfully lost hundreds of pounds and for a time the media pushes the person and their method to the forefront. Buzz fills the air. Then, the person and their magic diet plan fall off the radar, only to be replaced by someone else. Books that teach you how to write fiction are often similar.

Do some people actually succeed by following the advice contained in diet books? Sure they do. But does everyone succeed with the same plan? Of course not. Same thing with writing books. Why is that?

It's because both dieting and writing are very personal and each person has to find what works for his individual needs.

Does this mean the perennial list of diet books and writing books contain nothing of value? Certainly not. Most of these books do contain the seeds of important solutions.

However, the problem is that most authors of these books attempt to convince you that they are the final word on the subject.

Learning to Write Is Much Bigger Than One Book
That's how I, along with the Writer's Invisible Mentor (WIM), set myself apart from other authors. Instead of convincing you that I am the final authority on writing fiction, I show you how to become the final authority of your own writing. That's the only thing that will bring you true success.

Lifestyle Trumps Magic Solutions
It is only when a person finally learns to create his or her own lifestyle (whether it be dieting or writing) that he or she becomes totally successful. It's freedom. Freedom to live her own life, eating the foods that form a healthy lifestyle, creating the works of literature that details her unique point of view.
That's transformation. An internal change occurs and the person is no longer following a diet or writing the way some book tells her. Instead she attains a completeness that changes her into what she has always been.

It is the same thing with writing. When a writer finally learns the techniques that work for her, then the author is free to create works that become successful. The person finally becomes a writer. The transfomration occurs. After all, do you believe that John Grisham, James Patterson or Sue Grafton have to ask others for advice on how well they were writing? Do you believe that F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway or Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote what they thought others wanted them to write?
Of course not.

What It's All About
That's what the Writer's Invisible Mentor does for you. It teaches you to mentor yourself. But, why would it even be necessary to mentor yourself? Why not find a real mentor?

That's a great question, which we'll take up in my next blog entry.
See you next time.