Karin Muller at RolfPotts.com

Tomorrow I will debut a RolfPotts.com Writers page interview with Karin Muller, who is the author of three books — Hitchhiking Vietnam : A Woman’s Solo Journey in an Elusive Land, Inca Road: A Woman’s Journey into an Ancient Empire, and Japanland : A Year in Search of Wa — all of which she simultaneously produced as television documentaries for the likes of PBS, MSNBC Explorer, and the National Geographic’s global channel.

Here are a few outtakes from the interview:

“Nobody who decides to become a brain surgeon just picks up a scalpel and expects to start cutting – why do people think they can pick up a pen and immediately write a bestseller?”

“My first book [was] picked up by Globe-Pequot after being turned down by 72 agents and publishers. Tenacity, tenacity, tenacity.”

“When I’m writing the challenge is to be as absolutely fair as I can be to all characters involved – knowing that I have the pen in hand and therefore, the last word.”

“Very, very few people can make it as either authors or filmmakers. I write articles. I give lectures. I sell photos. I try to create as many income streams as possible from each project.”

“If you are going to write, read. Read voraciously. Read great literature. Take whatever you like and incorporate it into your writing.”

“Learn to love living in basements and eating ramin noodles. Second to poetry, it is probably the most difficult career to make a living. You must be utterly obsessed with it — more than you want a new car, a house, a family, a dog, houseplants — because you are competing with those of us who are willing to give up all those things in order to write.”

For a sneak preview of the complete Karin Muller interview, click here.