Things not to say to writers.

I don’t know if there is a code of ethics for writers out there, but there are a number of things one comes across that leads you to believe that there should be one. So I’ve compiled a list of things that have been said to me/I would hate for people to say to me, and it might all sound a bit brutal, but… well, I’ve never been one to mince words.

1) “You’ve had your success; you can stop writing now.” 

Some of you probably saw the Huffington Post article that’s been cycling around the internet for the last couple of days, where one writer plainly asks J.K. Rowling to stop writing and scoot over to the side so others can have the spotlight (actually this is the main reason behind this blog post). I cannot begin to tell you how indignant I was over that; how could that writer even say such a thing? You’d think, being a writer herself, she would know that you can’t just stop writing. It doesn’t work that way.

Author Existence Failure

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about A Game of Thrones… good stuff too. I don’t know what kept me away until now, maybe it was the number of books out there, maybe it was their daunting size… or maaaybe it’s the fact that the last two books in the series will be published in 2015 and 2020 respectively.

Yes, I’m not deceiving you. Feel free to check the books up on Goodreads for their expected publication dates. I was actually planning to venture – albeit timidly – into the world of George Martin, then I stumbled across the publication dates and backtracked. For curiosity’s sake, I checked Mr. Martin’s profile and was dismayed to learn that he’s 64 years of age. Let’s do a little math here, shall we? Martin will be 66 years old in 2015, and 71 in 2020. The average male life expectancy in the States is 75 years old. Do you see where I’m going with this?

He might die before completing the series.