by Peter Leavell, @PeterLeavell

The moment you touch pen to paper / fingers to keys and create a sentence, you’re a writer. Hats off to you. You’ve earned a level of respect. 

We respect writers. The endeavor implies a certain skill level, an education that says, “I’ve got something to say. A story to tell.” Writers also have a willingness to let others read their work, implying a bravery eliciting responses like, “I could never do that.” 

Writers have an aura of the lone soldier going about her business, a typist alone in his closet, a dreamer who pulls characters from the clouds and creates a story that resonates so deeply as to change lives. The writer also comes with knowledge of ‘the system’—a network of publishing pathways that includes tightropes, mazes, and a trapeze. The lone soldier, then, is a team player connected to people. Important people who get books on shelves.

We respect writers. As a writer, you have inherent respect.

What key element earns this respect? What must we do to not let our readers down? 

Know things. Readers ask questions. How do I know I should write? How do I publish? What should I write? How do I write and care for a family? And more. Know many pathways. Give them options from ancient Greece, from philosophers in the Enlightenment, offer poems from the Romantic era. Memorize the Bible. 

Offer options, and let the questioner make up their own minds.

How do you know things without trying to earn two master’s degrees?

Be a Reader

Be an adventurous reader. Stoke your natural curiosity that is innate in our character and discover how and why humanity messed up and sometimes succeeded. 

We tend to read what we’ve been taught to like. This means we read over and over again what we’ve developed a taste for. It’s time to stoke the curiosity and learn new things. 

If you’re comfortable with what you’re reading, you are reading to escape life instead of becoming an adventurous reader who knows things. 

—Work slowly, from reading the familiar into the unfamiliar. 

—Read what makes you uncomfortable. 

—Ask yourself why you’re unsettled, then explore new ideas and defenses for your thoughts. 

Then, when a reader asks you for an opinion, you’ve thought the issue through from many angles. 

Or, you could rest on what knowledge you have and hope for the best. 

That’s a brutal statement, but the stakes are high. Your advice, whether deeply considered or simply given, could change their life. The responsibility is crushing. Or should be. 

No matter where you are in your writing journey, you are respected. Be a curious reader. Know things. Give well-rounded advice that will better people’s lives—bettering the world, one sentence at a time. 

West for the Black Hills

Philip Anderson keeps his past close to the vest. Haunted by the murder of his parents as they traveled West in their covered wagon, his many unanswered questions about that night still torment him.

His only desire is to live quietly on his homestead and raise horses. He meets Anna, a beautiful young woman with secrets of her own. Falling in love was not part of his plan. Can Philip tell her how he feels before it’s too late?

With Anna a pawn in the corrupt schemes brewing in the nearby Dakota town, Philip is forced to become a reluctant gunslinger. Will Philip’s uncannily trained horses and unsurpassed sharpshooting skills help him free Anna and find out what really happened to his family in the wilderness?