"The most important advice I could give to aspiring memoir writers is that it’s pretty much all hopeless. There is very little chance that you will get your memoir published by a mainstream publisher (or, for that matter, your novel). Also, if you do get published, the process will make you way more mental than you already are. Plus, almost no one makes a great living as a writer."

I read this advice yesterday and chuckled. Is it a test? Is it a golden nuggest of realism? Though I hate to think some would-be story-tellers would read this and run away, I've no doubt some actually do. The goal shouldn't be to encourage failure because of the odds - the goal should be to encourage success no matter the odds.

EXPERT ADVICE?