Writers and Riches

    Readers occasionally inquire how a person goes about writing a book, getting it published and, it is assumed, becoming rich and famous.  There's no easy answer because so many factors are involved.  Writing and rewriting a manuscript is an ordeal in itself, requiring severe discipline.  Getting a publisher interested can be another soul-searing experience.  But assuming these two are accomplished, there's still no assurance the book will be successful.  Many good books die at birth and some bad ones make the best-seller list because of the exploitation.

    But let's see how the pros do it.

    Not long ago two experienced writers here, Day Keene and Dwight Vincent Babcock, were at the office of their agent, Maurie Grashin, a former writer.  Grashin had just sold a television series and was prodding them about getting busy on one of their own.  Half jokingly they kicked around a few unlikely ideas, then Grashin pulled an envelope out of a file and handed it to them.  It was a story he'd once started but never finished titled "Chautauqua."