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Ray Bradbury wrote in his book, Zen and the Art of Writing, a line that I hold near and
dear to my heart, and that is, we as writers, write, because we have to. We know that if
we don't, some part of us, is surely going to die, and so every morning you get up, and
you write, because you have to. A true writer, a true author, someone whose life revolves
around creating stories in the written word, sees this as their way of life, and they don't
focus on how much money they're going to make. When people come to me and they say," I have
an idea for a book, and I'm going to be on Oprah." I say great. Write the story. Forget
about everything else, and put all of your passion, and everything you have, into creating
that story, because when you do, you will create the best story you possibly can, and
it has nothing to do with money, and it has nothing to do with wealth and fame, and fortune.
I think the best pay, I'm going to say the best thing that happened to me, when I was
writing, is I 'd written a children's book, that I called Charlie's Treasures, and it
really is an inspired work. It's about a young boy, who shares his most valued treasures,
which is this bag of marbles, which are really a metaphor, for people that we meet in our
lives, and we debuted it at the LA Times Festival of Books, which from a financial standpoint,
was horribly unsuccessful. I didn't sell enough books to pay for the booth, not even pay for
my gas. Probably not even paid for the parking, and the food, but I had a man at the end of
the book festival, stand at my booth, and read the book cover to cover, and he looked
up at me with a tear in his eye, and he said," Thank you for writing this story." That's
why I write. If someone reads your work, and is that moved, then you've succeeded in a
way that every writer dreams of succeeding, and that is to have somebody appreciate, and
be touched by the words that you write.