Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-03-18
ROAD TO FAME
FULL OF ROCKS
WRITERS LEARN
BY FREDERIC j. HAsKIN.

begun has at last been divulged
authorltatively. One hundred and
twenty-five members of the Au-
thors' League of America. writer's
who have arrived, have immortal
lied in book form the story of MY
Maiden Effort"
Here surely is an illuminating
/ document for the young geniuses
who realize that destiny calls them
to write, but who sit with reluctant
pen wondering how one should
begin. The 125 chapters out of
the past history of 1875 successful
writer's tell just how 1t has been
done successfully. The only diff
Guilty In drawing conclusions is that
a different conclusion, and moral
NAV be drawn from every chapter
Thus, some writer's began WELD
/ ing a pen at a comparatively ma
ture age and struggled from there
on. Others-many of them-De-
gan their careers young and gath
cred experience all through the
years Of youth.
one of the former type is Ray
Stannard Baker. He began to be
an author at % when he sold his
first story to a short story maya
zine. He was informed that the
magazine paid on publication, ana
therefore he eagerly watched for
his literary debut which was to be
followed by his entrance into the
Dlutocratic class. Every month Tor
two years and a half Baker has
tened to buy the new issue OF the
magazine and went home anXiously
reading the table Of contents. AT
the end of that long psriod the
Young authors name appeared on
the cover in the distinguished COM
pany Of Anthony Hope and Robert
Louis Stevenson.
The promised remuneration
eventually came. 1t was q checK
for So. Young Baker dropped 10
earth and sat down TO calculate MS
profit. Unfortunately, the 80 gam
was overshadowed by the $3.50
spent for copies OF the magazine,
But" he says. ut was real ex-
perience." -
Cobb Got Early Start.
In the class of those who heard
the call of the muse early in life,
irwin s. Cobb is shining example.
He may surely claim the record
for getting the earliest start in the
game. He says: .,,
INV earliest known photograph
shows me. at the tender age OF
Twenty months, lying flat upon my
Istouach-I could lie flat upon my
stomach then-scribbling upon a
sheet of paper with stub Of pen
ell" ., r.u
Booth Harrington, Arthur Cult
errnan. Theodosia Garrison, ana
MANY others tell OF suffering IN
verses in their earliest years y
love lyric or q tragic ode written al
the age of six Is as good a way as
Ianv to burst into the profession OF
being an author, their experience
seems to say. We hasten to ada
that few Of these infantile eftus-
ions are reported as sold. They
were merely maiden efforts, bu'
eventually they led to bigger
things, ,. ,,,
some OF the celebrities struck
gold the first time they seriously
tried to dig anything out OF ar
editorial office. Josephine Das
kan Bacon tells Of selling her tirs
noem to the Atlantic MonthN
while she was still in school, an(
her next three attempts, an essay
story, and poem, to that magazine
and the Century.
Ellis Parker Butler also De
scribes early success. His frs
story. written when he was small
: boy, he sold to a juvenile publ
cation and received in paymen
fifty one-cent postal cards.
Other latent geniuses struggled
In fact, the majority served a dis
couraging apprenticeship to art,
5 For instance, Fanny Hurst de
, seribes how her first short stor
} was refused by eleven publication
and was finally printed in a co!
lege journal. Looking back on TN
first attempt. Miss Hurst now re
CARDS it as "a supreme example o
anfractuosity, banality, compact III
Icomprehensibility descipiency, Ell
Ifusiveness, flaccidity, garrulity, ny
Iperbolism, imoeciiity, JuVenescehc'
and so on to Omega
Fanny Hurst Labels Herself.
Fanny Hurst's first pupllshe.
short story brought in So VIII
= which she purchased morocco
bound note book which she large
. Iy and giltly inscribed, ram.
IHurst-Author,' If there Is any
thing in the power OF suggestion
this note book label might be re
Z garded as a determining factor II
I Miss Hurst's later successes. .
! Ben Ames Williams found tn
first hundred stories the hardes
to dispose of. In fact, he say
: tha4 he bombarded editors 10
7 four years without breaking thei
, Notifications. The hundred ant
7 first story sold, and Mr.. William
has lived, we infer, famously eve
, after. - :.
Another author who believes II
.. persistence, William Hamilton Os
borne, tells of sending a story u
I25 magazines and newspaper
) and at last selling it to Lippincott
Magazine, which he had somehoN
! previously overlooked.
: Gelett Burgess also found tina
/ lit is apt to take time to adJus
, oneself in tune with editoria
, minds. He soon saw the unlikeli
hood Of being specially invited I
ioin the congregation of the literat
; so. as he says, he broke in, as on
} breaks into house.
= A Boston ewspaper had pag
5 of literary queries which reader
? propounded and other readers an
T swered. Burgess wrote to the edi
. tor:
, "Who is the author of the poer
, commencing The dismal day wit
dreary pace and can YOU give m
the verses ?--F. L, c."
This was printed, and Burges
at once sent in the answer that tn
author of the poem in question wa
: Frank Gelett Burgess, and that h
was sending the words. Burgess
recommends this as one sure wa
to get n manuscript printed.
y Kathleen Norris first story ha
i a long and honorable career.
I went to a few magazines and the
: into trunk. Seven years late
!, she had acquired a journalist
Il l.. .ysf