August 2004

Adjunct faculty contribute to the overall high-quality of education we provide as an accredited School of Journalism and Mass Communications. We are proud that our faculty is balanced in terms of professional experience and academic background, and because we are situated in a media-rich community, are fortunate to draw upon a diverse group of professionals to enrich instruction in our skills courses.

Writing is stressed across the curriculum, and our writing courses are taught by both full-time and part-time faculty. W. Thomas Smith Jr., a South Carolina-based freelance journalist, epitomizes the professional expertise we come to expect from our adjunct faculty. He guides students in the development of story telling techniques and honing the craft of writing in his classes and in his prose, as illustrated in this i-SITE feature.

Block Buster
No excuse for writer's block

by W. Thomas Smith Jr.

It is always the same question: In fact, I never lecture a writers’ conference or a journalism class that I'm not asked to address the great literary bête noire - writer’s block. Of course when asked such, the audience usually gets my stock reaction; a raised eyebrow, occasionally a bit of subtle condescension (my apologies), always a sense of utter albeit civilly managed exasperation.

Fact is, I have little sympathy for whining wannabees who claim to be afflicted with the disease, because I believe writer's block is nothing more than simple sloth and procrastination. Sure, we all have times that we aren’t as inspired as we would like to be. But let me assure all fledgling scribes out there with dreams of pursuing a career as a full-time writer: You don’t write? You don’t eat. Utility companies and other creditors will bill the professional writer every month whether the writer is inspired or not.

Over the past year, I have had three books published on excruciatingly tight deadlines:
Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency in July 2003, and the Alpha Bravo Delta Guides to Decisive 20th-Century American Battles and American Airborne Forces, in December 2003 and March 2004, respectively. I’ve also completed a fourth book, another military title, slated for release later in the year. I’ve taught writing on myriad levels, and I’ve even found time to crank out a few magazine and newspaper pieces just to keep my hand in the business. To boil it all down, this equates to an average of between 700-1,200 words per day, including Saturdays, Sundays, and all holidays without exception.

I say these things not to boast (though a National Review writer did once refer to me as a “machine”), because I’m not unique. Others have managed similar, perhaps more demanding, schedules.

My point: Writers – particularly freelancers - who hope to earn enough to survive in this trade must either write a few hundred words, daily, or surrender to the aforementioned malady and fail.

It’s not easy, I know. Unlike many other pursuits and avocations, pitching and composing marketable pieces is hard work.

In her book, For Writers Only, best-selling author Sophy Burnham talks about a friend of hers, a professional writer and the author of seven books who once asked, “What is it about writing? Why is it so awful? It’s no way to live. Look at writers. Writers hate writing. They’re always talking about how hard it is. Artists don’t hate painting. You never hear an artist talking about how much he hates his work. Sculptors don’t complain all the time about how hard they find sculpting.”

Weeks later, Burnham had the occasion to ask an artist friend if she agreed. Or do artists hate their work, too?

The artist replied, “You’re forgetting something. Writing is so powerful. People rarely look at a painting and weep.”

Ah yes, and we all know nothing of substance comes easy. Still, for many, the question remains: How do we combat the dreaded “block” so that we can compose that which would make another “weep.” Moreover, how do we get to that seemingly simple point where we can pen the first few lines of that hopefully published article or essay?

Sportswriter Red Smith once said that we should sit before a typewriter and “open a vein.” Ernest Hemingway exhorted us to get up every morning and “bite on the nail.” Jack London said that we writers must “go after inspiration with a club.” And Gertrude Stein said, “to write is to write is to write is to... ”

What they all meant is that in order to allow the free flow of inspiration to begin, we must first pull up a chair, boot up the PC, and start cranking out words – getting something, anything up on the screen whether we feel like it or not. It is the only sure cure for that pathetic absolution from lethargy we wordsmiths have somehow excused as writer’s block.

Now - assuming that writer's block is a legitimate malady - what are the root causes?

In most cases, it is the same self-censorship - that evil inner judge - that plagued us when we were kids writing book reports for Miss Crabtree's sixth grade language arts class. Remember obsessing over that one line? Sweating that lead?

Sometimes we may become intimidated by the scope of the material or our own lack of preparation. But, in most cases if we're being honest with ourselves, writer's block is simply unconscious procrastination or worse, sheer laziness.

The fix? Stop whining, start working, and forget about the muse and her little word fairies. They're usually throwing inspiration parties over at Rick Bragg’s or Peggy Noonan’s.

I know this may all sound insensitive, but I suppose I’ve just never had the luxury of succumbing to the disease.

Now, if I’ve run off some of the crybabies and perhaps kick-started a few of the real writers, so be it. Back to work.

Read more...

"It's hard to believe that W. Thomas Smith Jr. was once a freelancer writing for local publications. His third book, The Alpha Bravo Delta Guide to American Airborne Forces, has just hit the shelves, and in less than six months, he'll be touting a fourth book detailing the ongoing conflict between the two Koreas.

With clips from such newspapers as the New York Post and USA Today in his resumé, Smith might forget he's also a former counter terrorism instructor, former member of the "Fighting" 5th Marines and a ninth generation Carolinian. But then again, those are hard things to forget.

"Pat Conroy once said that no Southern man is complete without a tenure under military rule," Smith said one recent morning over a Coke in Five Points. "I'm quite certain I wouldn't be."

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"... do Marines actually fight better than other soldiers? Rivals argue it's not so much their ability to fight — though that's never been a question — but that Marines are simply masters in the art of public relations. President Harry Truman once stated that Marines "have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's." Fact is, while other armed services have lured recruits with promises of money for college, "a great way of life," or "being all you can be;" the Marines have asked only "for a few good men [and today, women]" with the mettle to join their ranks.

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