Success...And How To Avoid It by Mat Coward
01/03/2005 . Source: Sue Davies 
pub: TTA Press. 175 page half-size softcover Price: £10. ISBN: 0-9532949-1-9. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.ttapress.com
Somehow this crept into my slush pile, but I think it might have dropped out
of a wormhole. Spookily, it seems to sum up my own approach to writing. If you
don't try you cannot fail, and if you don't want to try, you don't have to,
is possibly the best advice ever offered to a would-be writer. After all, there
are plenty of writers out there that have no problem putting pen to paper -
and in the Science Fiction publishing world some never seem to stop!
Another declaration by Mat is that hard work won't necessarily make you successful
because usually you need to be in the right place at the right time. Yes, it's
stating the bleedin' obvious but he says it so nicely...
Chapter headings include 'Save Time, Fail From The Start' and 'Bad Advice And
Where To Find It' - sub-headings are even more specific with 'How To Prevent
Good Ideas' and 'Believe Me You Don't Want To Be A Writer'.
The best bit is 'Free Stuff Is Sweeter Than Wages'. His advice, contrary to
every other clever clogs, is write for free unless you are doing somebody else
out of a fee. Sites like SFCrowsnest are much richer because so many people
contribute for free and it's even better when more people join in. Everyone's
opinion is valid, as long as they agree with me.
To sum up, this is a funny guide to avoid the pain of writing and thereby being
poor and unhappy from a guy who enjoys the pain of writing, is slightly above
the breadline and by my observations deliriously happily.
Read, take action, be happy, because making decisions is half the battle.
Sue Davies
(also) News Editor and Reviewer
www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk 
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