256
The commander stands for the virtues of wisdom,
sincerity, benevolence, courage, and strictness.
—Sun Tzu
If you want to take command of your writing life, attend
to Gen. Tzu in the following fashion:
wisdom
The more you know about what you do, and the more
you do it, the wiser you will become if you are open. This
is not the place for you to have a chip on your shoulder.
The world of publishing does not care about the over-in-
fl ation of your self-estimation. Arrogance will not force
open the gates.
When you think about your career, be objective and
cool.
When you write, be as on fi re as you can be.
It is wisdom to know when to use fi re, and when to
use ice.
A nal word
from Sun Tzu, and me
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257
sincerity
The days of Sammy Glick are over. If you want to get
anywhere, you have to be authentic. That not only
means in your writing, but also in your dealings with
other people.
Fred Allen, the old radio comedian, once said, “You
can take all the sincerity in Hollywood and put it in a
gnat’s navel, and still have room for two caraway seeds
and an agent’s heart.”
Make sure your sincerity is more expansive than that.
benevolence
When Ryne Sandberg, the great Chicago Cubs second
baseman, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame,
he said this in his speech:
“I was in awe every time I walked onto the fi eld. That’s
respect. I was taught you never, ever disrespect your op-
ponents or your teammates or your organization or your
manager and never, ever your uniform. You make a great
play, act like you’ve done it before; get a big hit, look for the
third base coach and get ready to run the bases. … Respect.
A lot of people say this honor validates my career, but I
didn’t work hard for validation. I didn’t play the game right
because I saw a reward at the end of the tunnel. I played
it right because that’s what you’re supposed to do, play it
right and with respect. … If this validates anything, it’s that
guys who taught me the game … did what they were sup-
posed to do, and I did what I was supposed to do.”
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258
Respect the craft of writing. Be in awe when you sit
down at the keyboard or with a pen. Write hard, write
with passion, because that is what you do. Don’t waste any
time dissing other writers or whining about how tough
things are.
courage
You know it takes courage to write.
It takes courage to write when you’re not published
and you don’t have an agent.
It takes courage to write when you are published and
you do have an agent. (This is why so many writers drink
to excess, or anything else they can think of to drink to.)
You have it inside you to fi ght this fi ght. Write, think
about what you write, then write some more.
Day by day. Year by year.
Do that, and you will jump ahead of 90 percent of
the folks out there who want to get published.
Sun Tzu wrote: “The principle on which to manage
an army is to set up one standard of courage which all
must reach.”
May you reach that standard in your own writing life.
May victory be yours.
strictness
You are responsible for your own self-discipline. No one
can fi nd the time for you, or write the words for you.
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259
You must be strict with your standards, too. Don’t
settle for the easy, the familiar, the cliché.
And at the same time, do not let your aspirations and
actions lead to anxiety and distress. Sun Tzu wrote: “To
maintain discipline and calm … this is the art of retain-
ing self-control.”
Onward.
Keep fi ghting.
Keep writing.
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