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The other day I sat down for a chat with the polific Isaac Asimov, author of hundreds of published books. Here's what he had to say.
Greg - Let's start at the beginning, Isaac. Why do you write?
Isaac - I write for the same reason I breathe - because if I didn't, I would die.
Greg - When did you begin to feel this way?
Isaac - From an early age, I had known I was a writer, and I had also known that if I ever had to choose between writing and something else, I would always choose writing...I started writing in the 1930s when I was eighteen years old. And deep inside me I'm still eighteen and it's still 1938.
Greg - No offense, but you are one wrinkled eighteen year old. But let's move on. Tell me a little about your writing process. What's your writing schedule like?
Isaac - I work from seven in the morning till ten at night, seven days a week.
Greg - Criminy!
Isaac - You can say that again.
Greg - Criminy! What's your advice to aspiring and veteran writers?
Isaac - You don't do anything automatically, simply because some 'authority' (including me) says you should. Each writer is an individual, with his or her own way of thinking, and doing, and writing.
Greg - Come one...one tip?
Isaac - The writer must use all things human and all things human-made and all things that impinge upon the human being as his raw material. Which, you can say briefly, he uses the universe as his raw material. So the writer must go through life with his eyes and ears open. He must allow everything to flood in and ignore nothing.
Greg - Anything else?
Isaac - I am usually amazed (and pleased) at what comes out of the typewriter. Which is why I write so much. I am eager to see what I will say next.
Greg - Is getting your head through the door ever a problem?
Isaac - Frequently.
Greg - How about a word or two about marketing?
Isaac - You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist.
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