“Her friends laughed when my niece said she wanted to become a reporter!” sneers Mummy Lulu.

 

“Her friends laughed when my niece said she wanted to become a reporter!” sneers Mummy Lulu. “But not all reporters are created equal.” She wags a gnarled finger at me. “Here’re two reporters who're in high-paid, respected posts--Vivian Salama and Natasha Khan.” She jabs at her smartphone and shows me the screen.

I nod my head, impressed, and hand the phone back to her.

“The bottom line is: Who’s your employer? What’re your qualifications?” Mummy Lulu pushes her phone down her neckline, where the bivalve of her bosom swallows it. “When my niece finishes her master's from DePaul and joins the Washington Post or NY Times, they’ll be laughing at the wrong side of their mouth.” 

/end

Writing Tip #2: The grass is not greener in America for novelists

[Pixs of models for illustration purpose only]

Ten highest-earning American authors in 2013

(1) E. L. James -- US$95 million
(2) James Patterson -- US$91 million
(3) Suzanne Collins -- US$55 million
(4) Bill O-Reilley – US$28 million
(5) Danielle Steel – US$26 million
(6) Jeff Kinney – US$24 million
(7) Janet Evanovich – US$24 million
(8) Nora Roberts – US$23 million
(9) Dan Brown – US$22 million
(10) Stephen King – US$20 million

[source: http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2013/0812/15-highest-earning-authors-of-2013]

Here’s the downside:

Number of fiction books published in 2012:
-- 67,254 for adult fiction
-- 2,200 for young adult, and
-- 13,297 for juvenile fiction.

Number of active novelists:
-- 200,000 for the whole country
-- Texas alone has 9,000 writers

[Source: http://www.themillions.com/2013/12/how-many-novelists-are-at-work-in-america.html]

By way of interest, population of Muar is 201,148; Nilai, 200,999 (2010 census). So, what're the chances of getting rich as a novelist in America?

/end

Writing Tip # 1: Write because you love to write not because of any other reason

Steve Jobs once said: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” What he said applies to writing.

/end