I WANTED TO WRITE

The name of Kenneth Roberts is guarantee of sales interest, but recognize the fact that this is the professional rather than the personal autobiography, and that he follows, in considerable detail, his undeviating devotion to the profession he chose, the seriousness and sincerity with which he carried out his determination to write. From his earliest experience on the Cornell Widow, this follows his career as he became a reporter on the Boston Post, did incidental pieces for various magazines, and then with the first World War, when he was sent to Siberia, he did his first article for Lorimer and the S.E.P. A succession of SEP assignments followed, with increasing returns, until he felt ready to write the novel he had always wanted to write. Nine months went into Arundel; but it was only with Northwest Passage that he achieved the ""big time"" and big money. The stress and strain, the difficulty rather than ease of writing, are all evidenced here-for the would-he-historical novelist.