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Many people stand prepared
to help you as a writer in many ways. Some can
tell you how to unleash (or, if need be, rein
in) your muse. Others can hand you the secrets
of drafting the cover letter or making the query
call, and another contingent offers sound advice
on initiating or fine-tuning whatever you write
to make it more publishable. More than a few even
provide suggestions on how to live the writer's
life -- everything from organizing your schedule
to rearranging your workspace.
These people have much
to say, quite a bit of it worthwhile. I've bought
their books and read their articles on these subjects,
and have gained much from doing so. But, after
a third of a century's free-lancing, several thousand
published essays, and eight books, I don't need
cures for writer's block (which I've never been
able to afford), paths to my muse (who shows up
dependably enough so long as I work at least five
days a week), or tips on getting that first paragraph
just right. What I need is sound counsel on how
to make more money doing what I already do, and
on how to sidestep or scare off the assorted corporate
and institutional con men and muggers who infest
the publishing industry and have determined to
either keep me from my just recompense or else
steal it from me.
In short, I don't require
a spiritual guide to enable me to better lead
the life of the mind. And if that's what you're
after, you're in the wrong place. WordWork™
is the term I've come to use to define what I
do every day when I sit down at my desk in front
of my Mac, that complex activity in which I generate
intellectual property, find outlets for it, license
its usages, see it into print or get it out online,
and transmit it to its readerships around the
world. Alongside, and interwoven with, the life
of the mind, I also lead the business life of
the mind. Content provider, maker of intellectual
property, wordsmith, scribe, call me what you
will . . . but writer serves the purpose perfectly
well and with only two syllables.
I'm in the word biz; it's
my livelihood. And for decades I've waited for
someone to talk about it as such. Few do. So I
decided to start writing the manual I've long
wished I could find in the bookstore, the one
filled with survival strategies and tactics for
the working writer. I haven't built this site
for amateur or Sunday writers, hobbyists, devotees
of "journaling" -- the kind of people
who like to say that they're "trying their
hand" at writing, or thinking of doing so.
I'd just as soon have them dabble in brain surgery
or nuclear physics. No one's unwelcome here, but
I've designed this site with the working professional
writer -- and anyone who aspires to that status
-- in mind.
What do I mean by that?
"A professional writer," as someone
once said, "is one who finds writing more
difficult than the average person." Making
your living from WordWork™ -- professional
writing of any kind -- requires intelligence,
stamina, creativity . . . and a plan. Most writers
have the first three, or they don't last long.
But you can bumble along without a plan for years,
even decades. I know; I did so. And then I found
a clearer path: the way of WordWork™.
Here's what you'll find
at WordWork™:
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Essays
about nuts-and-bolts writers' issues that
I've written and published over the years.
Correspondence,
public and private, on a wide variety of
writing-related subjects -- some written
for publication, as Letters to the Editor,
some written for circulation among selected
colleagues, and some to individual writers,
editors, and publishers. Some of this material
has appeared in print; much of it appears
here for the first time. (When it's private,
names have been changed to protect both
the innocent and the culpable-but-potentially-litigious.)
Reportage
on writer-related events, ranging from the
American Writers Congress of 1982 (out of
which the National Writers Union arose)
to the recent Tasini vs. Times landmark
Supreme Court case.
A unique series of
WordWork™
how-to booklets providing clear, effective
solutions to specific ongoing problems faced
by working professional writers: cash flow,
inventory organization and management, copyrighting
material, and other everyday issues. They're
available for you to order as printed publications
or download as PDF files, for small fees.
Information about
the WordWork™
workshops and seminars I teach for the
National Writers Union and other institutions,
including instructions on how I can make
those available wherever you live and work.
Information about
the WordWork™
lectures I present around the country,
including instructions on how I can make
those available wherever you live and work.
Information about
internship opportunities for writing
students and other pre-professional writers
who want some first-hand experience in the
business of earning a living as a writer.
A
professional autobiography of sorts,
built from prefaces and forewords to some
of my books, in which I chronicle some of
my understandings of my craft and the field
in which I exercise it; and a short biographical
sketch, so you'll have some sense of the
experience and background on which I base
my ideas and recommendations.
A WordWork™
Links page to connect you with key organizations
and serious individuals who can enable you
to bump your professionalism as a writer
up a notch or two.
Other samples of
my writing dotted variously around The
Nearby Café, the larger site
of which this is a subsection.
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I'll post new essays and
correspondence, older ones, additional links,
and other material to this WordWork™ site
regularly, so you'll have reason to return. If
response merits it, I'll consider including such
features as a chat room, and even creating some
real-time chat opportunities. I'm open to suggestions.
You can reach me at adc@nearbycafe.com.
/s/ A. D. Coleman
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