Henry Fonda once said, "When I'm playing someone else on the stage or in a movie, I have no trouble at all. But when I have to speak for myself, I become tongue-tied."

The same with me. When I'm writing about other people, or things, my thoughts flow and my words sparkle. But when the spotlight turns on me, I become camera-shy. Or gun-shy.

My portfolio, of course, can speak for me. But what it can't tell you about me is what I think are the two prerequisites for good writing: a love of reading and a love of words.

As a matter of fact, I feel there are only two ways to learn how to write in the first place. One is by writing, of course. The other is by reading.

And I love to read, anything, from the hold-it-all-in starkness of Hemingway to the let-it-all-hang-out prolixity of Proust. As long as it's real, as long as it's sincere, as long as it reflects the thoughts and feelings of an authentic human being.

And I love words. I love all the things you can do with them. To me words are like notes of music. You can run them up in simple scales. You can arrange them into catchy tunes. You can transform them into operas that plumb the depths of the human heart, or into symphonies that resonate with the awe of the universe. You can reach out--across thousands of miles or thousands of years--and touch another human being so that his or her life is never quite the same again.

FICTION

My stories have appeared in Weber Studies, Writers' Journal, The Panhandler, The Mark, Pinehurst Journal, Dream International Quarterly, Monocacy Valley Review, PBW, Riding Out: Contemporary Writing (Australia), Foolscap (England), The Chronicle (South Africa), Brainwave (Pakistan), Menzed (New Zealand), Asztal Lap (Hungary), Apocalypse I, Yomimono (Japan).

NON-FICTION

My articles and reviews have appeared in Films in Review, Boston Herald, Houston Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, St. Petersburg Times, Bestsellers.

ADVERTISING COPY

Advertising agencies, department stores, United Way, 40+ freelance accounts.

LITERARY FELLOWSHIP

Fellowship grant in literature from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

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William Sternman

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