Writer's Guidelines

   So you want to be a writer.
   Fuhgeddabowdit, as we say in New Jersey, and don't quit your day job.
   First question: Do you want to be a writer, or do you want to write? The two are not the same.
   A better question: Do you feel compelled to write, to put words on paper (or in a computer)? Are there stories inside you screaming to get out, even as they resist every effort on your part to help them?
   Now, if you still want to drag these stories out and put them on paper, I am now (metaphorically) going to give you all the equipment you need to be a writer.
   Here's a pencil.
   Now go away and leave me alone.
   If you'd rather use a typewriter or a computer, you're on your own. Use whatever works for you, and ignore what anyone else says.
   Including me.

   It comes down to this: People write because they must; they are driven to it by some inner force (or even an outer force -- nonphysical). Sometimes a story will gestate for years somewhere in a person's inner spirit world, and then when it's ready, it will demand to get out and onto a printed page.
   It doesn't matter whether a person uses a pen, a pencil, a computer or an old-fashioned mechanical typewriter. Each person must find the method that works for him or her.
   The bottom line is this: Writing is hard work. Use the method that works for you. Be patient. And keep at it.
   Of course, none of the above answers the question, What shall I write about? Fiction? Commentary? Journalistic reporting of factual life? Politics? Straight news or analysis?
   Many writers begin as journalists, where they learn the mechanics or grammar, punctuation, style and spelling, and how to interview a person who has a story to tell. Then they put all that together for a newspaper or magazine story that is basically factual and sometimes interpretive.
   But fiction? That can come later, if at all. Even then, some of the best of American novelists were terrible at spelling, punctuation and spelling. Among those, reportedly, are Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. But they were great story tellers and the rest is what editors are for. Far better, however, to learn and use the generally accepted standards of grammar, punctuation and spelling so that your new submissions won't annoy the editors who will brand you as a neophyte whose prose isn't worth reading.
   Journalism and fiction writing are separate skills, even though they both use similar skills, just as house painters and portrait artists both use brushes and colorful liquids.
   As for journalism, remember that a reporter's guideline -- if not an article of faith -- is that politicians lie, some more blatantly than others.  But lying to a journalist doesn't matter, because the reporter will take down, record and forward whatever it is that the politician says or does, without being judgemental as to the truth or falsity of the politician's comments. The journalist will, however, obtain responses from experts and from other political types and report their comments also, balancing the news story and setting it up so readers can decide for themselves the truth or falsity of the comments from each side.
   As a young reporter asked me many years ago, "Did you ever get the feeling when working on a story that somebody on one of the sides is lying to you?"
   "Of course," I said. "Maybe they both are, but it's not our job to decide which. We report both sides and readers decide where the truth is."
   There comes a time, however, when a politician's lies are so blatant, so extreme and so often perpetrated that it's appropriate and even essential that members of the news media use the L-word and document the frequent falsehoods of what a politician or government type says.
   In short, lying to a reporter doesn't matter, but lying to the people does, and it's journalism's duty to expose that behavior, even at the risk of verbal insult and abuse from the politician.
   And unlike many politicians and government types, reporters have tough skins, and a flood of personal abuse doesn't phase them. They let it slide off as they continue to take notes on what the politician says, then report these comments to the public.
   A good reporter is neutral  and accurate, passing on to readers and viewers information they need to know to make informed decisions as voters. Truth is the people's friend, and lies are the enemy.