By Stuart Horwitz

1. Parking. In the city. When you got there late. And did not have a plan.


2. Produce from the grocery store that you plan to make taste good enough that your children will want to eat it, but instead it just goes bad in the crisper drawer.

“Do I really need a copy editor to look at my writing after I finish it? I have a pretty good grasp of the English language and I have spell-check.”

-- Don Determined

Dear Don,

I know, times are tough. The time you spend on your writing is already costing you billable hours at your day job, and you don’t want to “throw good money after bad,” as one of my great-uncles used to say.

I know Grub Street, as well as probably all good writers, prizes Faulkner’s words, “In writing, you must kill all your darlings.” What if I’m not always ready to bring my knife to the page? How can I learn to objectively edit my work?

-- Jack (the Reluctant) Ripper

No one’s talking about killing, or slashing here

How can I maintain my momentum as a writer while juggling bustling social plans, a house full of family, and my job?

-- Mama Needs a Mai Tai

Glad you called. I’ve been thinking the same thing: How the HELL am I going to write my book, coach a bunch of ungrateful teenagers softball, keep up the integrity of my work as an independent editor, father kid #2, be a husband, do the shopping and my own laundry because beloved wife draws the line at my work-out clothes...you get the picture.

So you, and me, we have an ...

Can you call yourself a "writer" if you have not been published? I have not been published and feel like a liar when I introduce myself as a "writer" at parties, even though I spend the majority of my time banging away at my keyboard. 

-- Identity Crisis Chris

Can I call you “Chris”? I’m just saying, since we’re not sure whether I can call you a “writer”?