Writer's Inspiration

Debatable Statement:  Writers should write about what they know best.

I disagree, but I understand the premise.  If we wrote only what we know, where would Oz be now?  Frank L Baum might surprise us with his answer if he were alive today.  I'm guessing he and other fantasy writers would say that Oz really was what he knew the best.  I listened to a writer who said she prefers to spend as much time with her characters as possible because their lives were rich, interesting and intriguing. Mr. Baum might have spent quite a bit of time with Dorothy and Toto and other more bizarre characters in Oz than he did in his "real" world.  Aren't we the lucky ones now, too?

Young Alex Welton, a high school senior here in Pebble Beach was featured on the front page of our local paper today.  He wrote his first novel, yet to be published, over the course of five months.  He wrote every single day, five hours a day.  He is the rare young person who feels the same about time as old people do.  That is, there is not much of it in a day, so don't waste it sitting around complaining and being bored.  Get busy with something; before you know it, you'll have spent a thousand hours at it and you'll be an expert.

Note to self:  Write about whatever the heck you want, but write about it and write a lot, every day.