In January I had the opportunity to hear Stephen King speak at a fundraiser for the Manatee Public Library in Bradenton, Florida. King spends his winters on a nearby island and had donated his time.

              My first thought when he came out on stage was that he was taller than I had imagined. The first thing he said was that people always comment on how tall he seems in person. It’s funny how we picture people in our minds.

              King grew up in a very rural part of Maine. He always loved to read and always wanted to be a writer. He attended a one room elementary school, and there were not a lot of books in his town. His lifeline was the Bookmobile that made regular visits.

              King had some short stories published while he was still in school, and his goal was always to be able to support his family with his writing. But at first he had to take other jobs, including teaching English, to support himself, while he wrote on the side. He kept all his rejection slips on a nail that he pounded into the wall above his writing desk. Eventually there were so many rejections that the nail fell out. Instead of giving up, he got a longer nail. That was his best advice to unpublished authors. Keep writing and get a longer nail.

              King also advised listening to your editor and making changes if directed to do so. Although now most of his work is published without editorial changes, he still listens to the editor, and makes changes if necessary.

              The most interesting thing that King said was that Stephen King the author and Stephen King the speaker were two separate people. Stephen King the speaker was entertaining and engaging, although he said that he still has insecurities and expects to be called out as a fraud. He intimated that no one sees Stephen King the writer. While writing, he is in a whole other zone, and he achieves that by just showing up at his computer at the same time every day. He doesn’t stop until he has completed six pages. Then, when he has a completed rough draft, he reads through it to see if any themes emerge from it. If so, he goes back and strengthens the ties to that theme.

              So, that’s it. Basically, the writing advice from one of the world’s most successful authors is the same advice we’ve heard over and over. Write every day and don’t give up.