anybody who feels guilty that they’re taking time away from their family, or the cost of what they are doing, they should not feel guilty, because they are contributing— even if their children are grown. They are teaching what it means to have a dream, and to be passionate about something. Nothing of value comes easy. Something else writers need to understand is that talent isn’t static. You have to grow. You can’t just write the same story over and over. You’ll grow bored, you’ll grow tired, you’ll grow stale. I study the The New York Times and USA Today lists every single week, and if something is on that list for a long time, I want to know why. What has made this book and this author so popular? So you read in lots of genres?
I do. I just finished A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, and it was wonderful. Also, I wish you could be in my office right now. I write in a turret, and when I walk up the stairs, my whole wall is covered—there are probably 40 author signatures on my wall: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Pearl S. Buck. These are the authors I admired and loved, and this is my wall of mentors. Their books and their stories have lasted the test of time. And every time I walk up the stairs I’m reminded of the power of story. When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe, he said, “So you’re the little woman who [wrote the book that] started this great war.” And Pearl S. Buck’s book The Good Earth has helped to change foreign policy. Now, my books aren’t going to change policy, they’re not going to start a war [laughs]— but they’re going to get somebody through a hard weekend. They’re going to give a young mother a break. They’re going to take someone’s mind off a diagnosis. It’s the power of story—a simple story. How long after your debut was published did you feel that you were going to make it as a career writer? Was there a turning point?
There was one time that I knew I was a success, a defining moment, and that was when I was an answer on “Jeopardy.” [Laughs.] And that was two years ago. Come on [laughs], you knew before two years ago!
Let me give you my theory: I think there are three different kinds of authors. First, natural-born writers—but almost always they get caught up in the beauty of their words and forget the importance of the story. Once their storytelling ability is on par with their writing talent,
MORE FROM MACOMBER For her take on staying ahead of trends, connecting with fellow writers and more, visit writersdigest.com/jan-17.
that’s when they sell. I’m the opposite: I had to learn to be writer. I’m a born storyteller, so once my writing skills were on par with my storytelling ability, that’s when I sold. The third kind of writer possesses both talents— and I joke that those do not suffer enough! They almost always sell quickly, but they are also [often] the one-book wonders. They may sell other books, but they’re never as successful as that one—and that’s because they don’t know what they did right. They have not learned, they do not have that foundation, and they actually do suffer [later], because so much pressure is put upon them to create a book equal in talent and popularity to the first one. You had undiagnosed dyslexia and took only a few community college classes after high school, and yet you’ve sold more than 200 million books. It’s jawdropping. I know writers who feel self-conscious just because they don’t have an MFA! What would you like other writers to take away from your success?
The power of a dream and believing in yourself is just so important. I know I started out with that rented typewriter, and just passion—I think passion sells more than anything, and that comes through to the reader. I’ve been searching for a word for a long time that describes this, but I know when I write, there is a link between me and that reader. If I cry writing a scene, my reader will cry. If I laugh, they’ll laugh. If I lay my heart out on the page, it links with theirs. There is a link between us, and I just cannot find a word to describe it—I don’t want to say magic, I don’t want to say spiritual, there is just that amazing, powerful link that the reader feels. One of the things repeated in the letters I get over the years has been: “I feel like I’m right there with you” or “—with the characters.” And that is the passion, passion for the story. Any writer at any level, if they are passionate about what they feel and what they want to do, it comes through. It doesn’t matter how many degrees you have. It doesn’t matter if you barely graduated high school like I did—I even married as a teenager. The key to success in any field is passion. WD Jessica Strawser (jessicastrawser.com) is the editorial director of Writer’s Digest and author of the novel Almost Missed You, forthcoming in March from St. Martin’s Press.
WritersDigest.com I 47