For My Paid Subscribers: More on Writing Chapters

Excerpt from my book: A Friendly Guide to Writing and Ghostwriting

A longtime friend of mine, Carole, entered her short story into a writing contest. She knew the odds of winning were racked up against her but when she got a note that she had won, she called to tell me the good news.

“Congratulations,” I told her. “You worked hard on it.”

“Thanks,” Carole said flatly.

I expected her to be over the moon excited, but she wasn’t.

“You won,” I said. “You should celebrate. Why do you sound so sad?”

After some urging on my part, she said, “Stop it. I don't want to celebrate. That was a fluke. I’ll never be able to write anything that good again.