Matt de la Peña's advice to aspiring writers

When people find out that I am a writer, I am a Technical Writer, and that I have successful blogs, they often pitch ideas to me.

They also will come to me for advice, I tell them to write, they need to produce lots of bad material, so they can learn how to produce good material.

I learned that years ago from Jerry Pournelle, he tells writers that, but I believe Matt de la Peña's words below show that:

He told them that if they were serious about writing, they had to be ready to accept lots of failure. He once wrote a poem for a girl he liked, but after reading it, she never spoke to him again. His goal as a writer, he said, “is to give grace and dignity to people from the other side of the tracks.” 

~from page two http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/education/racial-lens-used-to-cull-curriculum-in-arizona.html

That NYT article is about the controversy over Matt de la Peña book Mexican WhiteBoy, being pulled from an Arizona school.

For more on this author see his website http://www.mattdelapena.com/ 

For the book mentioned see Mexican WhiteBoy

Imager by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Imager by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

In Imager Modesitt has created a new world with a new unique magical system, like he did years ago with the first "Recluse" book.

We are introduced to this new world, and the magic of this world, through the eyes and life Rhenn, a young man, or teenager if you prefer, that comes from a well to do merchant family.

The magic of this world requires a person to visualize, or Image (Imagine?), what they want to create very clearly.  There is more to it than that, just like the magic of Recluce, since only a small percentage of the world has the ability.

This is just the first book in the Imager trilogy, there are two more books about Rhenn already in print.  Which is a good thing, because your going to want more after reading Imager.

I am happy to say I really like this book.  I have been a fan of Modesitt's books for a long time, but previous book or two before Imager didn't interest me much.

I almost gave up on his books when I read Empress of Eternity , I think his passion for poetry influenced that book to much for my taste.

I really like the Imager series and recommend it to everyone that is interested fantasy.  If you liked the Recluse series you will like Imager. 
 

Modesitt doesn't seem to like writing more than 2 or 3 novels based on the same protagonist.  If you have read his Recluse series you have seen that before.

Modesitt is following that pattern with this series.  There is new book in the Imager series, Scholar, that will be out in November featuring a new protagonist, that is set further in the past, than the current Imager books.

Check the right side of my blog for links to Modesitt's, and other authors, blog and web page.