If you’ve kept up with my weekly entries, there were days I didn’t know what I was going to write. I overcame that obstacle by saying to myself, “If I wrote an essay last week, I can do the same this week.” Having a deadline to meet has really been a lifesaver for me.  A deadline (lifeline) makes one focus like a laser on the job at hand.

I have finished reading the galley proofs of my two novels Highway Sailor and A Class of Leaders. There are still two more steps to go in the self-publishing process: the printing and selling of each book. Wish me luck.

It is my intention to continue writing short stories, novels and essays on a variety of subjects. I might write about my past, about football, baseball, water aerobics, my travels with my wife Joan or more about the writing process.

My stepson Sol Sender was right about attracting people to my website if I wrote a piece each week about writing. Ever since I started this project, not only have I received close to 400 comments, but many people have ordered my books. It’s amazing how the Internet works.

So, to all you writers out there, may you write loosely, freely and swiftly with a deadline/lifeline in mind. And don’t forget to revise until you’re satisfied with what you’ve written. Happy writing to each and every one of you!

I write to be serious, playful and insightful.

I write to be a historian of my time and place.

I write for future generations to read my words.

I write to present a new and different perspective on things.

I write to find out what’s inside my mind.

I write to ponder the past and foresee the future.

I write to keep my mind active.

I write to inspire and influence others.

I write to tell a damn good story.

I write because I want to, need to and have to.

“Well, some days I find it impossible to begin, but I always spend my four hours down there and I may read magazines, I may do a crossword puzzle or check all the baseball averages or get some work done; there are days when it goes and days when it doesn’t go. But I think I have to go every day in order to earn the good days.” —Mordecai Richler

“I don’t worry about inspiration, or anything like that. It’s a matter of just sitting down and working…coming back and reading what I have produced, I am unable to detect the difference between what came easily and when I had to sit down and say, ‘Well, now it’s writing time and now I’ll write.’ There’s no difference on paper between the two…you sit down and you just have conditioned yourself to: now it’s writing time and you have a deadline sitting out there somewhere and you’re going to do the very best you can here at this moment; and so you do it.” —Frank Herbert

“I’m in good form, taking no interest in things, neglecting clothes, meals, company, and feeling calm and stable as I write. Each word has broken out of its shell; sentences come thrusting up straight from my breast. I just copy them down.” —Bertolt Brecht

“I enjoy the process of writing. The torment comes in getting my bottom on the chair and in front of the typewriter.” —Caryl Rivers

“There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes.” —William Makepeace Thackeray

“The writing process, for me, consists of setting a deadline or lifeline for myself, sitting down, letting my pen or fingers do the thinking, and then revising from there.” —Joseph Sutton

Jack London wrote a thousand words a day. That was his goal, his lifeline, his comfort zone, his rhythm. William Saroyan wrote a story a day. Me, I’m Joe Sutton, I write an essay a week on the writing process. After finishing this 52-week project, it is my intention to start writing a short story, a chapter (if I’m working on a book), or an essay, in one week. I like a weekly deadline better than a daily one—it fits my comfort zone perfectly, giving me time to digest a piece and revise it to my liking.

If you haven’t discovered your rhythm yet, it is my hope that you’ll soon find it.

(1) Set deadlines/lifelines for myself if I want to be a productive writer.

(2) Write swiftly and then revise, revise, revise.

(3) Get feedback.

(4) Take rejections lightly.

(5) Immediately jot down any ideas that come to mind.

(6) Get published.

(7) Read more.

(8) Exercise daily and eat healthy foods.

For the past three days I’ve been going over the galleys of my novel Highway Sailor. This is the second galley proof I’ve gone over and I’m still finding typos that I personally overlooked and typos the graphic designer made.

What kind of typos? I’ve come across many paragraphs indented eight spaces when they should be indented only four. Some quote marks were not deleted like I pointed out in the first galley proof. I found several words misspelled. These are just a few examples of what I’ve come across that anyone reading my book would find distracting and unprofessional.

A writer has to rely mainly on himself when it comes to proofreading. If the finished product isn’t as flawless and meticulous as he can make it, people won’t take his work seriously.

The man asked, “What books are you reading?”

I stopped writing in my journal. “I’m not reading them, I’m the author of these books.”

The man picked up my two fictional books and quickly browsed their front and back covers. “What’s Morning Pages about?” he asked.

“It’s a book about a writer who breaks out of a writer’s block by writing three pages as swiftly as he can every day for twelve weeks. He doesn’t even realize he’s writing a story a day. Put all the stories together and they add up to a novel.”

“Is it autobiographical?”

“Pretty much so. I write from my experience and spice it up with fiction. The other book you’re holding, The Immortal Mouth, is a collection of thirty short stories.”

“Are the books for sale?”

“Yes, and so is this one,” I said, holding up Write Now! “They’re ten dollars apiece.”

“Is Write Now! fiction?”

“No, it’s a non-fiction book about writing.”

“I like fiction,” he said. “I’ll buy these two.”

I signed each book for Tim Padgett, thanked him, shook his hand and watched him walk out the door.

Tim Padgett is telling me I should show my books every time I sit down to write in a coffeehouse. The next time I do it, though, I’ll print on a large card: “Books for Sale by Author—$10 each.”

Speaking of advertising, I have a classified ad coming out in Poets and Writers Magazine next month.  Here’s what it’s going to say:

EACH WEEK I WRITE an essay about writing and the writing process on my website. I’m the author of two books on writing: Write Now! On the Road to Getting Published or How I Learned to Sell My Book and Morning Pages: The Almost True Story of My Life. Please visit my website. www.joesutt.com

I just finished taking a 6-week multimedia workshop at San Francisco State University where I learned to combine photos, images, music and audio narrative with a short story I wrote called “The Magic Elixir.” It is now possible for writers to present their work on the Internet, not only in written form but in audio-visual form as well. The exploding Internet has opened up a whole new world for writers, what with blogs, wikis and social media websites such as Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, along with the writing website, AuthorConnect. It’s the dawning of a new age. The possibilities for writers are limitless.

Note: For a glimpse into the future, click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vTnhXPRPNU to view my short story “The Magic Elixir.” It’s only 2 1/2 minutes long.

Who should you show your work to? You can show it to the person you’re living with or a friend. You can go to a weekly or monthly writer’s workshop. You can snail mail or e-mail it to someone whose opinion you trust. And finally, there are many editors in the world who are willing to read your work for a fee. As for me, I’ve done all the above.

The important thing is to have someone else read your work so you’ll know if you’re headed in the right direction or not. Another person can tell you if you left out any important information, if any words are misspelled, if you repeat a word or phrase too often, if you should delete or add something, and the list goes on, depending on who’s reading your work.

Be open to criticism, but not too open. Because a college professor criticized a poem of a woman I know, she never wrote another poem again. The flipside of that: a woman I once met wrote a story that a professor of hers complimented to no end. He told her she had great potential and couldn’t wait to read her next story. She said to me, “I felt like I couldn’t live up to his expectations and it crippled my writing.” The main thing is, don’t ever get down on yourself. If the criticism makes sense to you, take it. If it doesn’t make sense, forget it.

Here’s my advice to future writers: If you write at least five days a week, you will produce many books, stories, essays, articles and poems in your lifetime. If you stick to writing, someday you will be rewarded for your efforts. I’m sure of it.