Th-th-th-th-that's all folks

Done. Finished. Ended. No more.

Afore any of y'all continue reading this diatribe, lemme tell you this is about my chosen career, avocation, love, source of income, frustration, joy and a central focus of my existence - writing. Mo' specifically, it is about me offering writing advice in public forums to beginning writers.

I'm done.

A bit of factual information first. It may sound like bragging and to some degree it is, but it needs to be said. For more than 30 years, I have made 100 percent of my income as wordsmith, a prose slanger, a verbal prostitute; I write you long time. Thanks to this career of mangling the English language, I have:

Crossed the nation four times.

Bought real estate.

Bought vehicles.

Met a bunch of celebrities.

Taken free vacations all across the South. (Yes, free).

Gotten into concerts, amusement parks and etc for free.

Written books and contributed to a whole lot more books.

Racked up 100+ awards for my work in communications, including one national award presented to one and only one person/outlet per year.

Met a whole lotta truly awesome, wonderful, incredible and amazing people.

Edified, torqued, annoyed, delighted and otherwise instilled just about any emotion you can think of in people around the planet.

Otherwise paid my bills for existing in this life.

Based on this, you'd think I have some idea of what I'm talking about when it comes to writing.

But every time I try offer advice to beginning writers, someone who has to write in their spare time and prays to get paid pops off and says I don't have a clue what I'm talking about. Hrm. On one had, a person who makes a living writing. On t'other hand, a person who tries to squeeze in writing amidst working a 9-5 job.

Who you gonna believe?

So yeah, I'm done with the public advice. I will still try to help, but it's gonna be private messages or otherwise outside of a public forum.

I do not have the time, patience nor inclination to deal with fools. If I try to engage them, they just drag me down to their level and beat me with experience. There's also the issue of arguing with a fool. Can you tell which one is the fool?

I freely admit what has worked for me may not work for others. A very real case of Yer Mileage May Vary (YMMV). I tell folks this.

So I'm done with being publicly shredded over something I absolutely can control.

If you are a beginning writer and, for some reason, want to hear rambling advice from a professional curmudgeon, editor, writer and arthritis sufferer, then contact me privately.