Was ove at the DV, doing a guest blog. To take a look, head on over there.

Here’s a little excerpt:

When I was an unpublished writer, struggling not just to see my name on the cover of a book, but also trying to navigate the choppy, seemingly ill-charted waters of writing and publishing guides, getting myself into port”finding that glorious harbor known as ˜contracted writer’ seemed a mythic journey. I felt like a lost sailor, tossed and battered by unreliable crafts, lead astray by ill drawn maps, and everywhere I turned it appeared, œthere be monsters.

It was the unknowingness that drove me the most crazy. There are no true writing schools, no certificate you can hold in your hand and say, œLet me into these hallowed halls, I deserve to be here. Writing isn’t like medicine”there aren’t ivy covered buildings where you go, learn the tools, do your apprenticeship, then set off on your own. And worse than not having a building is the fact that writing constantly changes. By the time I bought a book on ˜how to write’ from my local bookstore, it was already out of date.

What was I to do? What is any writer to do?

Well, a few years and several contracts into this non-traditional industry, this is what I’ve learned…