What’s inspiring in our pursuits of passion? Sure, it’s awe-inspiring to look at the greats, the writers who matter, and soak in their awesomeness and quiet rebel-ness. Sure, it’s occasionally helpful to consult a rebellious resource or two for tips, tricks and treats on the way to creative success. Sometimes a skewed view or some Word Porn is all you need to get your ass moving. You know what else is inspiring? Looking at the writers who live and work around us. The freelancers. The bloggers. The aspiring novelists, published writers, and creative innovators. The folks that are making a career and a path for themselves unlike anyone else. The writers that inevitably break some rules along the way. I draw tremendous inspiration from these folks, our peers in this creative journey that we’ve embarked upon. And that’s why I profile them in this continuing series.

Anyone who’s taken a gander around the writing blogosphere will recognize the presence and contributions of John Hewitt of PoeWar. John has been a technical writer for much of his 20-year career, but has run the gamut of writing roles: newspaper editor, literary magazine editor, reporter, public/governmental relations writer, freelance writer, proposal writer, copywriter, web developer and paste-up artist. Whew! John first made himself a leader in the “writing on writing” web in 1993 (yeah, that’s right, all us newbies should scream a “We’re not worthy!” right about now), with the early version of what would become his indispensable site on writing tips, advice, job links, and much more.

John is inspiring because of his unwavering dedication to exploring and improving the craft of writing. His blog is a pleasure to read, a pleasure that rewards upon consistent and continual viewing. His community is a comfortable and energizing place, one in which experts and novices mingle and learn from one another.

I talked with John on the Saturday beginning NaNoWriMo month, covering career and blog longevity, marathon writing, and fitting a niche. A few excerpts and lessons learned: (Want the whole interview? Scroll down to click through)

On getting personal to a bunch of strangers:

My greatest success is what I’ve managed to do, over the past year, in connecting with readers. I’ve written a lot of articles that were very objective and devoid of personality. No one knew who I was. I’ve been trying to embrace that act of showing some of my personality, allowing myself to open up to readers. As a fairly private person, opening myself up to public criticism was a big move. My series about my technical writing career was an example. I opened up and was very blunt about my mistakes.

On the frustrating tendency for shit to sell:

What I hate about writing is a lot about the industry. I don’t like the fact that publishing is all about the next big hit. No one cares about actual literature. If everyone bought the really great literature it would sell better, but the book industry knows they can get Britney Spears to write crap and it will sell. The kind of book about a wandering traveler won’t. It’s fine with me. That’s why I love the internet. If I write this novel, and decide to share it, I can put it out as an ebook. I may not get the massive readership, but I will get more than banging my head against the wall trying to get a publisher.

On keeping it simple, stupid:

The site itself is its own goal. I created it because I enjoy it. If it never grew beyond where it is now, it won’t bother me because I make a really good living outside of it. PoeWar provides some nice extra money, and it would be great if it ever did pay the bills. But I don’t have a lot of high expectations.

Like this post? Well geez, how could you not?? Tell us about it in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe by RSS or email for all future writer profiles…

Want more from the conversation? Click on through to the other side…

Quiet Rebel Writer: Tell me about where you are today with your writing career. Are you freelancing?

John Hewitt: I’ve been a professional technical writer since 1995. For most of that time I contracted out, but in the last two years I’ve been working full time. What’s interesting is that I’m more prolific today, at a time I’m working full time, than any point of my life. I’m putting out an article on my blog every day. I’m the most productive I have ever been as a technical writer, cutting through messes and solving problems. It’s a real point of pride and a professional high point.

QRW: I got you at a good time then! Let’s talk about your site. How did PoeWar develop?

JH: PoeWar started back in 1993 when the internet was brand new. I was actually pitching to do web development for the local newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star, and while it didn’t work out I got an internet account with them. I set up a site with the name of PoeWar, as that was my gaming name. It’s short for Poet Warrior, and I thought that was cool.

PoeWar started out as a blog for writers, and I wrote many articles on poetry writing tips, articles that still get me about 30 hits a day. My posting wasn’t on a daily basis back then. Around 1999, I had to find a new host so decided to get my own domain and create PoeWar as a regular website. I gradually increased the writing frequency, until around 2003 I began writing weekly. Today it’s daily.

QRW: What’s the career path of a longtime freelancer look like? How did you get where you are?

JH: I was a creative writing major in college. In the early 90s, I worked as a lobbyist, but made the mistake of solving all our client’s problems. That’s bad for a lobbyist – they thrive on nothing happening! If you make things happen, the client goes away, or asks for ridiculous things. So we went out of business.

I had done a little bit of technical writing and freelancing, working for the computer department when I was in college. I knew the programmers still, and so every once in a while I would get some work thrown my way. That was the start of my freelancing.

I was looking to make a career as a writer, and one of the best ways to do that, even then, was to get out on the web. That’s why I made a presence early on. Over the years I went back and forth between full time technical writing and freelancing (copywriting and technical writing). I also went back to school full time when no one was hiring and got my master’s in English and a professional writing certification.

QRW: Where does PoeWar fit in with your professional work?

JH: It’s the other way I make my living. Since 1999 I’ve made small but steady living from PoeWar. At one point in 2003 I was making $1500 a month strictly from advertising. Now it’s lower, but it’s still $500 or $600 a month.

QRW: How did you establish the audience that brings you that income, and that maintains an active presence on the site?

JH: Initially I just wrote. You wrote what you wrote early on, without a care for SEO. And because I was writing articles online at a time that not many others were, I gained attention.

What really got it moving was when I started posting jobs. I would go to newsgroups and nice newspaper search engines to search newspaper ads across the country. I would gather ads that way, and do a partial listing for each job. That brought in a lot of people. It also created some nice synergy. I was posting a lot of descriptions on freelancing and tips, and so I would do a brief synopsis of a freelance market, or book publisher. I’ve cut back on the job listings, and that’s one of the reasons I make less than I used to.

QRW: Where do you see yourself in the blogosphere?

JH: That’s a major question I’ve had – where do I fit in among the other writing blogs? To me, what my site does that other sites don’t is a lot of how-to articles. Articles that discuss, How do you do this? What is a stanza? How do you write an essay? Many writing sites out there that I like are mostly inspirational and discussion, whereas I’m more general and instructional.

There’s an audience for that, and I focus on them. I have an advantage with that focus. While the other sites get more traffic than me because of their rabid fan base, I get a lot of hits on the backend. Articles that were written long ago that keep getting hits. Someone out there is searching the web to find information on how to write as a technical writer, for example, and they’re finding me.

QRW: Do you think that you’re working towards something, a bigger goal?

JH: The site itself is its own goal. I created it because I enjoy it. If it never grew beyond where it is now, it won’t bother me because I make a really good living outside of it. PoeWar provides some nice extra money, and it would be great if it ever did pay the bills. But I don’t have a lot of high expectations.

As far as publishing? I’ve given a lot of thought to writing books on poetry or writing. I just don’t have the time. I’m gone to work or commuting 12 hours out of each day!

QRW: Yikes. So what about NaNoWriMo? I know you’re participating again…

JH: I pulled it off last year with the same schedule! This year, I intend to get a big jump on that this weekend. [ed. note – interview was held on the first weekend of November] I have three different ideas in my head on what I’m going to write about, and I’m not sure what I’ll pursue until I sit down. These are story ideas I’ve had for 5-6 years. One is kind of a surrealist novel with the main character roaming the country. My second idea is to redo what I did last year. I wrote 50,000 words but it never became a novel and didn’t hold together. My last option is to use this time to further develop a story about working as a tech writer at IBM.

QRW: What is it you love about writing, and what is it you hate about writing?

JH: I love the ability to share with other people. To get my ideas on paper, and to help other people. That’s why I’m a technical writer and why I run PoeWar – I’m creating something that helps someone down the line, helps him or her do something they wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. As for my poetry and novel writing, that’s creative and doesn’t fix a problem, but allows me to share my thoughts

What I hate is a lot about the industry. I don’t like the fact that publishing is all about the next big hit. No one cares about actual literature. If everyone bought the really great literature it would sell better, but the book industry knows they can get Britney Spears to write crap and it will sell. The kind of book about a wandering traveler won’t.

It’s fine with me. That’s why I love the internet. If I write this novel, and decide to share it, I can put it out as an ebook. I may not get the massive readership, but I will get more than banging my head against the wall trying to get a publisher.

QRW: Who are the writers you admire?

JH: One of my favorite writers is Charles Bukowski. I like his poetry and novels, especially the ones that are more realistic about his life. He was very willing to share his own life, which was fascinating, and he had a great way with words. I also like Tom Perrotta a lot. He can write first person from multiple perspectives, jumping character to character to see viewpoints and how they conflict with each other. I also enjoy N. Scott Momaday and Terry McMillan, who were my instructors. They told terrific stories.

As far as writing mentors, though, I don’t really have any. I wish I did, but no one is out there really grabbing my attention. It’s difficult – reading and writing about writing so long, it’s hard to find a concept that hasn’t been covered.

QRW: Confession time. What are your biggest screwups and successes?

JH: My biggest screw up of all time as a blogger was my very poor move of having a website to having a blog. I lost a lot of readers and search engine hits in the transition. There were so many problematic things: every page was created individually before as an .htm page, and then I tried to feed it into the blog. I didn’t keep the old addresses. So many readers got lost, so much work and traffic. It hit my site very hard, and it was way more painful than I ever anticipated.

My greatest success is what I’ve managed to do, over the past year, in connecting with readers. I’ve written a lot of articles that were very objective and devoid of personality. No one knew who I was. I’ve been trying to embrace that act of showing some of my personality, allowing myself to open up to readers. As a fairly private person, opening myself up to public criticism was a big move. My series about my technical writing career was an example. I opened up and was very blunt about my mistakes.

QRW: What words do you love? What words do you hate?

JH: A word I absolutely love is “slice.” I like the way it rolls off the tongue. It works perfectly.

There are so many corporate words I hate. “Synergy” – ugh. I will use the words I hate, just because I want to get them out there and redeliver them in the face of folks throwing them at me. My company just bought another company. I’m glad to hear they’re financially healthy enough to do that! But in this long press release they said the new company adds a silicon valley “zeal” to my corporation. I wrote that on my white board. What a great, ridiculous phrase. As a writer I know zeal is the first part of zealot. So glad that’s the direction our company is headed.

QRW: How do you indulge yourself?

JH: I take a break with Vegas twice a year. The week before Christmas is a great deal. I also play Everquest, but refuse World of Warcraft. It’s not because I could get addicted, it’s just the frustrations of Everquest keep me busy and addiction free! I also watch a lot of TV, including Chuck and The Shield.