Foreword by Peter Bowerman

Good writers ask questions. Lots and lots of questions. Questions are the gateway to a better story (or article, brochure, memoir, novel - heck, virtually anything). Questions pull out the good stuff - the details, anecdotes, richness and texture of a story or character. You're probably reading the work of a lazy writer if it sounds like it's all coming from inside his or her own head.

Good writers in virtually any genre connect with the "universal" - those thoughts, perceptions and feelings common to the human experience. Before a reader can truly enjoy any written work, again, whether a book, article, newsletter, poem, etc., he or she must relate to it somehow. And chances are, they'll do that because the writer or author has taken the time to connect with that "universal". Which, in turn, happened because that writer asked questions. And perhaps, I suspect, because that writer, in a sense, "went under the knife" and subjected him or herself to some pretty probing questions and inquiries: how he thought, what moved him, how he remembered certain seminal life events or what she dreamed about, what terrified her and what she sees in those cloud formations that go floating by on a lazy summer afternoon.

"Know thyself." "The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates was on to something. And maybe, just maybe, the questions someone asks of oneself - the road trip one takes through the labyrinthine pathways of one's own mind, the investigative reporting one does on one's own dreams and nightmares, hopes and fears, triumphs and defeats - unearths the juicy stuff that reveals oneself to oneself. And in the process, questions lay bare our reasons for believing as we do, clear out the cobwebs of unawareness, and bring us closer to that universal. Which, by definition and as a happy by-product, allows a truer more honest flow and connection between writer and reader. Simply put, it makes one a better writer. It's not always fun - and it's rarely easy - but as a writer, you've already signed on to one of the more painfully gratifying ways to make a living, or at least creatively express yourself.

On the pages that follow, you'll find a glorious array of questions - a massive key ring ready to open up countless secrets unlocked inside you - the secrets to you. And, I say, the secrets to better writing. Everyone you cross paths with, face-to-face or through your words will be better for this personal journey of yours. So, read on, dig deep and know thyself.

Peter Bowerman is the author of the critically acclaimed The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less, a best-selling triple-book-club selection. The book is billed as a meaty, step-by-step "how-to" for penetrating the lucrative arena of freelance commercial writing.

Email: bowerman@mindspring.com
Website: www.wellfedwriter.com

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