Write and Wrong

In the past year or so I've signed with a best selling author and also with someone who wrote one of the worst novels of all time. I liked signing with the best selling author better. What is the difference between "write and wrong?"

No one sets out to write a bad book, assuming for a moment that the first chapter of both books was identical in quality, why did one guy become a writer and why did one become a wronger?

Writer--The best selling author wasn't published until later in life. He won a contest which led to a contract, and then another contract. He was profoundly grateful for his success. His novel wasn't James Joyce's Ulysses, but it did take the readers on a jaunty odyssey through interesting places. When he signed books, he made potential readers feel like they were special. If his book was a house guest, it's the kind of book you'd invite over to dinner and hope would hang out with over dessert. As an author, he himself would be someone you'd want to have dinner with.

I found that his positive energy made me sell more books.

Wronger--I won't give any biographical details about the less successful author. He was younger than the best selling author, but seemed to expect to become an overnight success, well overnight. He resented the fact that he wasn't famous. I knew him as he was writing the book and he bragged about it, even as he told me that it was getting longer and longer and...He didn't get his book professionally edited, or if he did, he sure didn't listen to the editor.

If his book was a house guest, it would be the guy you avoided at parties. Needless to say, his book signings usually didn't go very well and yet to hear him say it, his book was selling better than yours.

I found that his negative energy made me sell more books too.

I actually learned more from spending an hour with the "wronger" than the five hours I spent with the writer. I've made many of the bad mistakes over the years, and I now understand why I did not become a best seller.

The difference between write and wrong can be as simple as attitude, so be a writer not a wronger!