How to get a job

The question I get most often, both in mail and when I speak, is, "How to get a job?" Usually it\'s done a bit more politely, but sometimes it\'s asked just that way. It\'s generally phrased differently by computer audiences than by science fiction audiences, but both really want to know the same thing: how do you become an author?

It becomes easy for you to how to get a job if you are successful author. I always give the same answer: it\'s easy to be an author, whether of fiction or nonfiction, and it\'s a pleasant profession. Fiction authors go about making speeches and signing books. Computer authors go to computer shows and then come home to open boxes of new equipment and software, and play with the new stuff until they tire of it. It\'s nice work if you can get it.

To be an author, you must first be a writer; and while it\'s easy to be an author, being a writer is hard work. Surprisingly, it may be only hard work; that is, while some people certainly have more talent for writing than others, everyone has some. The good news is that nearly anyone who wants to badly enough can make some kind of living at writing. The bad news is that wanting to badly enough means being willing to devote the time and work necessary to learn the trade.

The secret of becoming a writer is that you have to write. You have to write a lot. You also have to finish what you write, even though no one wants it yet. If you don\'t learn to finish your work, no one will ever want to see it. The biggest mistake new writers make is carrying around copies of unfinished work to inflict on their friends. This fulfils your query for how to get a job.

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