“I was almost in tears after finishing Joseph Sutton’s A Class of Leaders.” —Hal Goldstein, actor

“A Class of Leaders is a great book, a great read. It’s 1969—a time of riots, drugs and the Vietnam war. Because Josh Sampson, a white teacher in an all black high school, isn’t getting anywhere with his students, he decides to let his students teach each other. Soon they are having spirited debates about the war, abortion, the grading system and other important issues of the day. They are also writing about those issues. Plus, they are holding trials and signing petitions. There is only one problem: the principal finds out what’s going on. Sampson continues to forge ahead battling the administration and at times his own students.” —Susan McGregor, Amazon book reviewer

Is there a secret to writing?

“Yes, of course there is.”

What is it?

“It can be summed up in four little words.”

You’re kidding me. How can you sum up the secret to writing in four words?

“Then you tell me what the secret is?”

I can’t. I just thought it would be longer than four words. Tell me, what’s the secret?

“SIT DOWN AND WRITE.”

Is that it? Are you being serious with me?

“I’ve never been more serious. Think about it. If you want to write, have to write, need to write, what do you do? Do you go for a walk, wash the dishes or call someone on the phone? No. You can’t do those things if you want to write. What you have to do is actually SIT DOWN AND WRITE. It’s as simple as that. Or, if you’re so inclined, STAND UP AND WRITE. The choice is up to you.”

What does the writing process mean to you?

“It means you shouldn’t be afraid of your internal voice.”

What do you mean by that?

“What I mean is, trust yourself, trust your voice. Don’t even try pleasing others—please yourself, first and foremost.”

Do you have more thoughts on the writing process?

“Yes.  I believe writing is freedom from criticism.”

Can you elaborate on that?

“Don’t worry what others think of your writing. If you worry what they think it will prevent you from expressing yourself freely. It’s like having an editor peering over your shoulder as you’re writing, telling you that a word doesn’t belong here, that you need a comma there, that your thoughts and feelings don’t deserve the light of day. The editor is your nemesis. You have to get rid of the editor if you want to free yourself of criticism.”

How do I get rid of the editor?

“As you write, don’t look back. If you write without looking back, even if you think you’re making a fool of yourself, or making a bunch of spelling, punctuation and grammar errors, don’t worry about it, keep going forward until you’re finished with what you want to say. After you’re finished, that’s when you should go back and start utilizing your editor.”

Wait a minute. First you tell me to get rid of this nemesis, the editor, and now you tell me to make use of it. I don’t understand.

“After you’ve freely written everything you want, you’ll need to revise, shape and mold what you’ve written. Revision is when it’s time to utilize your editor. Let me give you an example. A young man recently e-mailed me a short paragraph of his writing that was complete gobbledygook. He said he wrote it down as fast as he could and asked, ‘Is this what you mean by stream of consciousness writing?’ I wrote back saying, ‘Write more. The more you write, the more sense you’ll make, and then revise your piece if you want people to understand what you’ve written.’ It was fine that he wrote down what came quickly to his mind, but he should have written more and then utilized his editor.”

Are you saying my editor only does harm during the first draft of a work by making me hesitate or sputter along?

“I couldn’t have said it better.”

And then I should use the editor to organize and revise?

“Yes.”

I have one more question:  Who are you?

“Me?  I’m your internal voice speaking to you.”