Be a generous writer

One of David K. Wright's many books: America's 100 Year Love Affair With the Automobile: And the Snap-On Tools That Keep Them Running

In the early 1990s, I met a freelance writer named David K. Wright. He had been earning his living as a freelance writer for years, and had dozens of books to his credit. I was working as a planner for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation at the time, writing some speeches, long-range transportation plans, white papers, and anything else that needed writing. I was also toying with the idea of going into freelancing fulltime. David and I started meeting once a month for coffee. He shared generously his thoughts (“I have knowledge that’s a mile wide and an inch deep”), that he didn’t have an agent and was doing just fine thank you very much, and his sources, such as Cooperative Children’s Book Centers. The University of Wisconsin campus is one of the sites for the Cooperative Children’s Book Centers, a valuable aid for authors of all types of children’s books. See the web site at http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/

Even more important, he would pass my name on to editors when he was too busy to take on a new project. One day when the editor at Lucent Books called him about writing a book for a new series and David’s schedule was just too full, he told her about me. Thus the creation of my book, The 1920s.

Be generous with your expertise. Whether you are a writer or a singer or a teacher or a salesperson or a director of a non-profit—share of yourself and your knowledge. Pass it along, like David did for me and I do for others. And, David, if you read this, put your return address on your next Christmas card! The last address I have for you came back.