!Meet A Celebrity Author!

David Pogue, Macworld columnist

http://www.pogueman.com

(book discounts, baby pictures, song spoofs, etc.)

The David Pogue Library:

Macworld Mac SECRETS (4th Ed.)

Macs for Dummies (5th Ed.)

MORE Macs for Dummies (3rd Ed.)

Hard Drive (a novel)

The Weird Wide Web

Classical Music for Dummies

Opera for Dummies

The Microsloth Joke Book

What it's like to be an Author
By David Pogue

There's nothing like being a writer. You make your own hours. You have no

boss. Every day is different, both in schedule and in what you're doing.

And because of the Internet, being a writer or author feels like you're

on a live stage--when you write something great, you get dozens of

e-mails from happy readers. (And when you mess up, they tell you that,

too!)

Of course, being a writer means you've got to have a lot of motivation.

There's nobody there to say, "You've been slacking off!" You're

freelance--no structure for your day is handed to you--so you've got to

be hard enough on yourself to actually do work! Some people, I'm sure,

prefer the comfort of a "real job," with regular hours and a boss.

But the greatest thing of all about being a writer is this: it's a

meritocracy, which means that talented people win and mediocre people

finish last. The magazines or publishers you write for don't know what

you look like, how old you are, what experience you've had, or even

whether or not you combed your hair. There's no politics; it doesn't

matter if your rivals are blond and sexy, or bring the boss flowers every

day, or know the owner's best friend's nephew. The ONLY thing that

matters is how good your writing is!

So when you succeed as a writer, there's no question why: it's because

you're good. And that's the greatest sense of pride anyone could have, a

feeling you carry with you in everything you do.

...David