Stephen King reveals two secrets to his terrifying success

Blazing Reader,

When asked for the secret of his writing success, Stephen King offered two answers in his book On Writing:

"When I’m asked for 'the secret of my success' (an absurd idea, that, but impossible to get away from), I sometimes say there are two: I stayed physically healthy (at least until a van knocked me down by the side of the road in the summer of 1999), and I stayed married. It’s a good answer because it makes the question go away, and because there is an element of truth in it. The combination of a healthy body and a stable relationship with a self-reliant woman who takes zero sh*t from me or anyone else has made the continuity of my working life possible. And I believe the converse is also true: that my writing and the pleasure I take in it has contributed to the stability of my health and my home life."

So if you want to be successful, then the secret is to stay healthy and married — according to a man who specializes in terrifying tales about rabid Saint Bernards, clown-infested sewers and buried alien spaceships (all somehow set in Maine).

John C.A. Manley

P.S. For another secret to Stephen King's prolific output, check out yesterday's post.

P.P.S. Even if you have no interest in writing, Stephen King's On Writing is an unforgettable autobiography, telling how he went from writing scary stories in the laundry room of a trailer park to becoming a bestselling author addicted to cocaine, eventually going clean, only to nearly die in a brutal automobile accident. It reads like a thriller with grammar lessons. You can purchase a copy through my Blazing Shop.

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.