Susquehanna Valley Independent Writers sprang from a story in The Daily Item when freelance writer Cindy Herman introduced us to John Kador. Cindy is a member of the group and her story is posted with her consent.
Business author forming a writer’s support group
by Cindy O. Herman
John Kador does speech writing and ghost writing and has published about
15 business books. In other words, in the writing world, he’s made it. He’s
a published, successful, self-supporting author.
So you might think, as I did, that he doesn’t need the support of fellow
writers. But we would both be wrong.
Mr. Kador moved to Winfield last summer when his wife accepted the
position of associate dean of students at Susquehanna University. Since then
he has been trying to find a writer’s group in the area, but not necessarily
a traditional writer’s group, where members critique each other’s work. He’s
seeking what he calls more of a writer’s support group.
“The writer’s identity is very tricky,” Mr. Kador said. “Writing is very
lonely. A writer’s support group is a chance to get together to remind them
that they’re not alone.”
His plan is to have quick writing exercises in an attempt to help writers
find their voice.
“The biggest emphasis would be to let go of our editors, that judging
voice in our head that stops us from writing,” he said. “And to trust
ourselves so that we can find that honesty.”
Mr. Kador led such a group for five years when he lived in Geneva,
Illinois, just west of Chicago, before moving here.
“How it works is what I call exercises in free writing,” he said. “I might
offer them the start of a story: ‘The man walked into the room.’” Group
members would then have a short amount of time, say, 90 seconds, to write a
story and “not worry, just enjoy the job, letting our internal consciences
guide us. That’s Part One.”
For Part Two, people read their stories out loud.
“The only reaction from the other members is relaxed delight. And the
results,” Mr. Kador said, “are magical.”
But finding that magic, or at least, a group to create it, has been
difficult for Mr. Kador here in the Susquehanna Valley. He started by trying
to find a similar group, but with no luck. Since then he’s been trying to
start his own. He’s spoken to some interested people, and has approached
both The Union County Library and Page After Page, in Lewisburg, as possible
meeting places.
“I like meeting in bookstores,” he said with a shrug and a smile.
Among his published works are How to Ace the Brainteaser Interview; Great
Engagements: The Once and Future Johnson & Johnson’s; and his most recent
book, The Manager’s Book of Questions, which was named one of the year’s top
ten business books.
His ghostwriting, which he said he found to be fun and the best money by
far of any writing he’s done, includes A Call to Action: Taking Back
Healthcare for Future Generations, by Hank McKinnell, chairman and CEO of
Pfizer; and The Manager’s Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great
Companies, by Steve Harrison, a principal of Lee, Hecht Harrison, one of the
larger outplacement and career management companies in the U.S.
Since he himself describes writing as a lonely profession, I asked what
enabled him to keep writing through all those solitary hours till he had
finished each of his books.
“All I can say is, I owe my father a great debt for instilling in me a
great sense of discipline,” he said, adding that, in addition to discipline,
he could not go back on his word after agreeing to complete an assignment.
So his books were all assigned before he started writing them, I asked.
And there he grinned at me.
“There are two types of writing,” he said. “Speculative and assignment. I
only do assignment.”
But even so, paid and published and writing only on assignment, he feels
the need to be in the company of other writers.
“Being a part of such a group makes my life better,” Mr. Kador said.
And it’s not just being surrounded by paid and published writers like
himself. The writer’s group Mr. Kador is envisioning would be open to all
writers.
“Anyone who considers himself or herself a writer is welcome,” he said.
“You don’t need credentials. You don’t need to have published anything. You
just need to think of yourself as a writer.”
