Letter from the Author
“Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing.”
—Sylvia Plath
Mastering the Four C’s of Successful Writers: Craft, Commitment, Community, and Confidence
If you have ever suffered the sting of rejection, this book is for you. If you have started a book, but haven’t finished it (though God knows you’ve tried!), this book is for you. If you have sent out a manuscript which you labored over, believe in, and want to see in print with a burning passion, but haven’t found a publisher, this book is for you.
If you have been told that your work is not marketable, if you have felt isolated, frustrated, and confused, You Can Be a Winning Writer is here to help. In this book, I’ll teach you how to tease apart the obstacles that hold you back. In these chapters, you will find support, anecdotes, and inspirational quotes that will encourage you to confront, face, and overcome your most challenging issues. You’ll find encouragement to finish that first book, find a publisher, and sell books.
I wrote this book for writers who have never seen the inside of a university. I wrote the book for MFA graduates who have crafted a great piece of writing, but are not yet on the path to publication. I wrote the book for writers who have waited years until retirement to write the novel or memoir that’s been haunting them, and for mid-life writers who have decided to tell their secrets, or their most fantastical story.
I wrote You Can Be a Winning Writer for poets who aspire to write their first novel, for journalists struggling to find the time to write a full-length investigative book, for history buffs intrigued by mysterious figures from the past. I wrote the book for any writer who dreams of seeing their work in the hands of a multitude of readers.
The Four C’s approach was a system I devised that brought me across the chasm from aspiring writer to published author. The approach also helped me to win a list of awards and nominations I had never dreamed of.
When I told a friend about this book, he asked what advice I could possibly offer writers that hadn’t already been written.
“There are books on craft. There are books on ‘the business of writing.’ But I have yet to see a book that incorporates all the building blocks: commitment, community-building, and confidence as integral to becoming a winning writer,” I told him.
In the past few years, books on building a platform, constructing compelling plotlines, and making good scripts great have flooded the market. Books on screenwriting, playwriting, the craft of the novel, and television writing advise writers on how to get their books written in a timely and successful manner. I’m a fan of many of these books, and, in the resources section, I provide a list of recommended reading.
You Can Be a Winning Writer might very well be the only holistic approach to becoming not just a writer with a publishing credit, but a writer who relishes success.
What do I mean by holistic? Holistic is defined as “incorporating the concept of ‘holism’ or the idea that the whole is more than merely the sum of its parts, in theory or practice.”
By incorporating the four key aspects of the writing life, You Can Be a Winning Writer provides practical and real-world instructions on becoming a successful author.
With discussions by experts, published authors, and successful writers on the thrills, the challenges, and the vicissitudes of the writing life, I believe that this book will inspire you to aspire to greater heights, to think bigger and to reach for the brass rings of your dreams.
I’ve lectured on how to be a winning writer for over ten years at literary festivals, writer’s conferences and universities. And I’ve coached writers individually to great success.
The goal of You Can Be a Winning Writer is to eliminate the drama, the emotional slowdowns, and the self-doubt that hinders and keeps you, all the talented authors, from publishing success.
Joan Gelfand
June 2018
Early in my career, after some moderate success as a poet, I got bitten by “novel fever.” Post-college, I had had a fair number of poems published in literary journals. I had performed at prestigious venues like the Oakland Museum, Litquake and the Beat Museum. I had even had the excellent fortune to have a poem turned into a song and recorded by a rock band. The song was aired on the local radio station and nationally. But I still didn’t feel like a winning writer.
I didn’t set out to write a novel. I mean, really? I had cut my teeth on Simone de Beauvoir, Virginia Woolf, Willa Cather, Kurt Vonnegut, Gunter Grass, and Wallace Stegner. I was satisfied being a poet, known to my local community.
Writing a novel seemed like a terribly pretentious, misguided idea. No. I did not start out to write a novel. I started out with a story that, after two years, and much encouragement from my writing instructor, grew into three hundred pages. I had written my first novel without planning to do so.
It was with that first novel that I began to understand that becoming a successful writer wasn’t just about writing. It was several years after my first attempt to find a publisher for that first novel that I understood the business of writing.
I learned that the letter I got back from an agent asking me to revise my manuscript was a serious request, not a rejection. And, I learned the hard way that without confidence, without commitment and community, I was never going to become a winning writer.
While the Four C’s approach encourages you to improve your craft, it also provides suggestions for the design of a productive work practice, recommends ways to cultivate a supportive network, and gives clear and practical examples of how to build your confidence. What makes the Four C’s approach unique is that I will teach you how to develop all these skills at the same time.
Does it sound like a lot of work? It is.
Over the years, I’ve coached innumerable writers who start out insisting that they barely have time for the actual writing. Just getting to their desks, crafting a piece of writing, and finishing it is a tremendous challenge. And it is. But just finishing a piece of writing is not enough.
After just a few sessions of working with me, these same writers find their priorities shifting as they begin to understand the importance of cultivating a network and building community. They realize that sending out their work one or even ten times is not enough. Soon, they find themselves more confident about every aspect of their work.
I’ve worked with clients who, after secretly aspiring to see their work in journals that publish their “writing heroes,” find themselves side by side those very same heroes.
I’ve worked with professionals who do not consider themselves writers, but manage to get the help they need to tell their story and get their important books into the hands of the public.
The Four C’s system: Imagine that your writing career is a stove
