Many years ago, before even the computer dominance of America Online, there was an old, online community by the name of CompuServe.   At the time I was reading several books by a science fiction writer named Jack L. Chalker.  I was very impressed with his ideas and wondered if he might possibly be a member of CompuServe, so I searched on his name and found a match.  I then sent a message asking if he was the same person as the science fiction writer, and to my astonishment, he was!

What followed was a short exchange of messages wherein I asked what the life of a successful author was like.  I was somewhat of an aspiring writer and curious what an author’s life was like from their side, or more importantly, from reality.

What he said stunned me.  He started by explaining that being an author was an extremely lonely life.  That you were only as good as the success of your last book and it was entirely possible to have to declare bankruptcy while waiting for a $100,000 check from your publisher.  He said that was why so many other science fiction writers had full time jobs, such as math teachers.

I also asked whether being a writer filled him with an inkling of an  immortal feeling, since his books could very well be “out  there” for decades, or possibly even centuries.  Instead he countered by telling me the feeling was more like having a child leave home; the story and its characters that you had developed and fostered for so long, suddenly gone and out of his hands.  I’ll never forget that, after publishing Breakthrough I think I knew what he meant.

All in all, it was a short and terribly profound exchange.  Jack L. Chalker died in 2005 so I’ll never get a chance to follow up with him.  But his advice and insight will stay with me forever.

So…the question is…which author would you most like to converse with?

Michael