The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1904-07-02
HOW JACK LONDON @ARRvEp.-
Popular Author Struggled Hard fer
Hob Position He Holds.

world To-day he is read everywhere.
is sought by publishers, and the pages
OF the magazines. from The Century
down, are open to him.
The story Of how he arrived I"
how he first set foot upon the
stepping-stone to success. he
tells in The Editor. the New
York magazine for literary workers,
incidentally giving the latter class
some excellent advice Here are a
few of his terse, pregnant sentences.
Work! Don't wait for some good
Samaritan to tell you, but dig it out
yourself.
Fiction pays best Of all
Don't write too much Don't dash
off a 600o-word story before breakfast.
Avoid the unhappy ending. the
harsh, the brutal the tragic, the horri-
ble-H you care to SOC in print the
things you write.
Keep a notebook. Travel with it,
eat with it. sleep with it. Slap into
It every stray thought that futters
up into your brain
AS soon as a fellow sells two or
three things to the magazines" SAYS
Jack London, his friends all ask him
how he managed to do it," and then
he goes on, in his own racy way, to
tell how it happened to him
He had many liabilities and no as
sets, no irCome and several mouths
10 feed. He lived in California, far
from thn
and did rot know what an editor
looked like But he sat down and
wrote. Day by day his pile of manu-
scripts mounted up. He had vague
ideas, obtained from a Sunday supple
ment, that a minimum rate Of $40 a
thousand words was paid, and figured
on earning 5000 a month, without
overstocking the market
One morning the postman brought
him, instead of the usual Ions. thick
manuscript envelope a short, thin
one. He couldn't open It right away.
It seemed a sacred thing II con
tanned the written words of an editor
Of big magazine. When. modest as
ever. he had figured in his mind what
the offer for this 4OO0-word story
would be at the minimum rate-S4O.
of course-he opened the letter Five
dollars!
Not having died right then and
there Mr. London is convinced that
he may yet qualify as an oldest in
habitant Five dollars! When? The
editor did not state
But, by and by, in the course of its
wanderings. one Of his stories reached
an editor who could see the genius Of
Jack London, and had the patience to
penetrate beneath the husk Of wordy
introduction and discover the golden
grain.
Here is the incident that proved
the turning point in Jack LondOn's
literary career. as lie so graphically
tells It.
Nothing remained but to get out
and shovel coal l had done it be
fore, and earned more money at it.
/ resolved to do it again. and | Ger
tainly should have done it, had it not
been for The Black Cat
Yes, The Black en- The post,
man brought me an offer from 1T for
4OO0-word story which was more
lengthy than strengthy. if I would
grant permission to cut it down half
Grant perm ssIOn2 I told them they
could cut IT down two-halyes II they'd
only send the money along. which
they did by return mail As for the
IS previously mentioned. I finally re-
Ceived a. after publication and great
deal Of embarrassment and trouble
And the rate he received for bis erst
Black Cat story was nearly 2U times
what the aye-dOllar editor paid
Nor is Jack London tho only writer
who has been lifted from obseurify 10
prominence by the lucky Black Cat
which. az the New York Press has
truly said. has done more for short
story writer's and suorr-tory readers
than any other publication.
Each of rs famous prize r0upefi
tious has brought Dew writers 20 the
front lu ms most recent. the S. 100
prI4. was won ~ young Texan who
had never before written story and
the SECOND $1,000 went t0 a lawyers
wife iu an obscure Hlss0s-. town
40 bass just .nsuErare1 another cog.
test lu which $4,000 Nu r6 paid fa
writer's .u sums 1f from 800 'o s. luN .
rhIs ~IU RI. t..f 4U4 many ness
uaU,- f1 .Hu Ut .- r-.sa who have
arrived through .'s sHu0n
IT. conditions ar. announced Boa The .
-u.r..t .sa4, 4f rts V4e. Cat au4
all a.su .- mailed FREQ ta any one
- tty ~U1FstoFy Publishing Com
pan, Boston Mass sven those Rho
cannot write Eiun.r. story thea
selves may care SO ay giving a tine .
Ty N. fD ssme tflrUt wA1 .As.
U#r all sa.1.f beer .a m.nd that e .
wH. ae entirely a.e.~sF f1- any 1ue
f# send st.rF ra TIE Htek Car .
a|ft.Ht SIRE reA4ias ana Complying
~fE aI fha ..ay3 conditions.
Here Hz s .Hsa-# .r F.a reader t1 GIG
soaaHs aat .f a.s brain. fHr SHAT LIE
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a.rfh feH&f
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