“The Ride”
By Mort Laitner
An outline of Mort’s speech for the Mango Writers Conference —- Saturday February 28, 2015
Plantation, Florida
Why be a Writer? Ten Lessons Learned. The Art of Storytelling in Ten Stories
Theme: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
1. The Russians— Yes Virginia, there are crooks and thieves out there.
2. The Christians—A trip to St. Cloud
3. Amazon—poof, you are now a public library.
4. Your loved ones—they want their due. Don’t try to please them. They have never written a book.
5. Taking risks. Be prepared for the shylocks to demand their pound of flesh.
6. Jealousy — you have a gift—be proud. Taste their jealousy it is as sweet as orange marmalade.
7. The silence of your friends. Be as silent as they art. KYMS keep your mouth shut.
8. Amazon reviews—learning how to beg.
9. The pain of a critical review. Grow up—everybody has one.
10. Blogging as a hobby, counting hits
