Master Class: From 75 rejections to 22 books: the ups, downs and sometimes-learned lessons of a writing career with Doug Wilhelm
To the members of the Burlington Writers Workshop:
This year I’ll have been a full-time self-employed writer in Vermont for four decades, and my 22nd book comes out this fall. Among my weaknesses in this work has been that I’m not inclined to talk much about myself, or the work — but a conversation with Katie Lazarus about what might be useful in this program led me to think that if I tell my story as a writer, that could have some elements that are interesting and that, I hope, can be useful. I’d like to follow that with a conversation about whatever questions participants may have, or topics you would like to discuss.
I came to Vermont in the early 1980s, seeking a way and a place to write my first book, which was a nonfiction narrative of a journey into Islamic Asia. I did find that way and place — and that book was rejected 75 times and never published, despite my best efforts and those of two successive good agents. The failure shaped my career as a writer. I think it might be interesting to talk about how, and what it led to.
Along with writing books over these years, I’ve built and somehow sustained a business doing writing and editing work on contract. My last work in journalism was covering Vermont in the late 80s for the Boston Globe. Since then my work has included eating new Ben & Jerry’s flavors to write package copy, and traveling to Siberia and Afghanistan in the middle of winter to write about democracy-building projects … and I’ve had the true privilege of working with nonprofits, businesses, foundations and public agencies all over Vermont, to help them tell their stories and achieve their goals.
In the book work I’ve written fiction and nonfiction, for each age group from early readers to adults. I’ve brought out works through New York literary houses, mega-corporate publishers, and Vermont publishers with just a few or even no employees. I’ve worked with hybrid publishers and have self-published; and I’ve seen the advantages and challenges of all these approaches, as the publishing world has both opened up, in the digital era, and drawn more closed in the age of conglomeration.
So I’ll do my best to share my story. Please come, having read this, with anything you’d like to ask, and/or listen for what questions may come up as you listen. I’ll likely have some questions for you as well — and I hope we’ll have an excellent conversation.
Doug Wilhelm
Bio:
Doug Wilhelm’s 21 published books include 15 works of fiction for young readers, including The Revealers, a 2003 novel that has been the focus of reading-and-discussion projects in more than 1,000 schools. His last novel, Street of Storytellers, won three national indie-book awards in 2020. More recently, Doug has been writing nonfiction books for adults that focus on Vermont. Kind of a Miracle, The Unlikely Story of the Community College of Vermont came out in 2024, and Home Ground: Stories from a Lost Community on Vermont’s Shelburne Farms will be published this fall.
A former Vermont reporter for The Boston Globe, Doug has been a fulltime self-employed writer in Vermont since 1985. He lives in Weybridge and is also a working musician, playing in several Addison County bands that include the Almendros, whose second album, “Destination Unknown,” released last fall, has the first two songs he has written (so far).
Sun, January 25th 3-5pm
Tickets are $15
