DISQUS

My secrets are out...

http://www.emdashery.com/emdashery_blog/2007/05...

Now everyone's going to get more productive, and I'll feel less productive by comparison. It's a vicious circle...

Chip MacGregor (I believe) has said that a writer needs two out of the following three things to get published: a great concept, a great platform, and great writing.

If you're a celebrity or a well-established public speaker, then you can combine a great concept with your platform and get published--even if the writing is junk. For the rest of us mortals without a platform, we have to do whatever it takes to make sure the writing is good before it's seen by an acquisitions editor.

Hence, any free, "on the publishing house" editing would take place only after two out of those three requirements were addressed.

Wow. This is great, Marcus. Do you charge royalties if this happened to (mysteriously) show up in my marketing material? A wise person I know once shed some light on the myth of the author, and this post points out how many different ways people can contribute to a book project.

If you wanted to finish out the spectrum, you could add Collaborating, which is like Ghostwriting on steroids--the ghostwriter adds many of his or her own thoughts to the work. The Collaborator often ends up with an "and" instead of a "with" in the byline.

A client of mine who self-published a very successful book told me that he saw himself as a project manager. He hired the publicist, the printer, the writer (and I, in turn, hired the editor), and together we got his story out. He understood what some "writers" don't: it takes a team.

Oh, not at all. I just throw these things out there because I tend to think any new thing is cool. But sometimes, they're not so much!

BTW, the update moved from the sidebar to the body soon after I posted my comment. I was on FF5.0, so it was probably on my end.

Yikes. I was going to thank you for the link, but I'm afraid you might hunt me down for encouraging you to drop a sabotage device into your blog! Your update is now showing up in the sidebar--at least on my screen. :0

I did try the widget on a post I'm doing for tomorrow, and it worked fine in Typepad. I guess they don't call it the bleeding-edge for nothin.

In HC's defense (just a teeny tiny bit), I think their focus is the MySpace market.

I did browse Scott's book from the HC site, and it looks great.

>Patrick, so what does God say when you have conflicting calls?

"Go do what I want you to do, and I'll figure out what to do about the rest." And every so often, I'm even obedient enough to give him a shot.

I think you answered the question with living a centered vs. a balanced life. Despite may years of effort, I've found a balanced life to be a quixotic pursuit. A centered life is attainable; it just requires a enormous amount of trust.

Someone who lives a centered life understands that an hour of sledding with his children can have as great an impact on the world as another hour of writing.

I remember once working under a tight deadline to write an article about the need to spend time with your children. I had to steal scheduled family time to finish the article, and while writing, I ended up fussing at my kids because they kept pestering me to play with them. Oh, the irony!

A writer's life is such a balancing act. One I've never mastered. I finally had to give up and ask God to help me understand what he wants me to do when conflicting calls converge.

Cool. I always wanted to be a duke!

You lead through example by your blog generosity. Thanks for the link!

It's funny that ghostwriting should come up. As I was reading your post, I thought that as a ghostwriter, I don't have the luxury of being difficult to work with. I work very closely with "authors" for 3-5 months at a time, and if I didn't try to be professional and pleasant, I'd at best lose out on referrals (my primary source of advertising), and at worst, find the "out clause" being exercised.

Ghostwriting has helped me remember that writing is a business--even if it is often for a higher calling. I have a customer, and my customer has customers (publishers and readers). It's my job to make the product the best it can be, but I also must give myself away. I'm writing for someone else. The project, literally, is not about me.

I don't think it's too much of a leap to say it's the same for writing under our name for a magazine. Excellent writers understand that editors are their customers, and that those editors have customers. The article is not just about the writer.

Congratulations, Mark, on your new neice! I hope everyone is doing well.

I'm just getting back in the swing of things and checked out your new site. It looks great! It looks like your horse is well fed and all saddled up, and I'm sure you'll enjoy some great victories this year.

p.s. Thanks for including me in your blogroll!