I’ll give you a big hint – this is not the treat you were expecting. It’s sort of a trick -- my final blog for TED.

Why end it? “For the sake of variety,” the boss wrote to me.

As Willie Loman said in “Death of a Salesman, “Isn’t that remarkable?”

Variety Magazine has forced me to stop writing this. I guess they’re still mad at me because I subscribed to The Hollywood Reporter in 1984. Those folks really have long memories.

Gandhi said, “A wise man learns to forget” but, like most Hollywood types … oh, now I get it. “For the sake of variety” (not Variety Magazine). Never mind.

Still, it’s nice to be told that a writing job is winding down because, #1, it means you’ve been getting paid for what you love to do and #2, if you write the same thing for too long, it drains creative sparks from the ol’ tank. Writing jobs, by nature, are short-lived anyway; like amusement park rides.

I want to thank the Academy … wait, that’s the wrong speech.

I want to thank everybody at TED for giving me a chance to vent and explain to other writers what they can expect from the writing life. A writer’s life is like nature: as beautiful as it is cruel. It’s like a gorgeous  ghost who dances with you in the pale midnight by the steamy lake and then, at sunrise, when you’re gazing at your own reflection, splashing your face, it tries to drown you.

After a while, you just have to smile, shrug and explain to the ghost that you’re not going to stop writing, “So get off my back!” That will usually work.

“Prepare for stardom!” they told me.

Guess what? It hasn’t happened yet.

No one told me, “Prepare to enjoy your life, no matter what happens.”

But that’s the best advice you’ll ever get.

Good luck to you all! Send me an email at DPRinnet@aol.com and let me know how you’re doing. If you tell me you’ve been rejected 1,000 times this year, I’ll write back, “That’s wonderful! They’re reading your work!”

-- Don Rutberg