The Creative Process can be a Magical and Mystical Journey!

For most people who are not writers, authoring something may seem like a pretty straightforward endeavor.

You have an idea, so you sit down and write it out, then you publish it and sell it. The End.

There are — perhaps — a tiny handful of writers on the planet for whom it is that simple. Often they are seasoned published authors who are starting their 34th book... and the entire process is pretty "old hat" to them.

For most writers — and particularly those laboring over their first manuscript — the process of writing is more like giving birth. Strike that... it's more like the entire relationship process, from meeting someone, to forming a relationship, to falling in love, to eventually (perhaps!) giving birth.

In many cases, writing a book is about a lot more than just "writing a book."

It becomes a journey of creativity and self-discovery that often takes years. For example, a recent client I worked with spent the better part of twenty years getting from the point of having the original idea to being ready for publication. 

We are often hard on ourselves because we feel like it's a personal failing that we "can't just sit down and distill our idea into a finished manuscript in 90 days."

After all, we meet all sorts of other project deadlines in our lives, all the time. 

Right?

But that's rarely how the creative process works. And I say that, both as a writer, and as an artist. Creativity ebbs and flows, and when we're not feeling creatively inspired, chances are we wouldn't be happy with the outcome, if we were to try to force ourselves.

Besides, we would miss out on the magical and mystical moments of insight and self-discovery that often goes hand-in-hand with the creative process.

So, why not just let your creativity flow at its own natural pace? Sometimes that pace might be three weeks of frenetic activity followed by five months of dormancy — but that's really OK, too!

Thanks for reading, and remember to enjoy the process!

The Value of the Informal "Conversational" Voice

"I can't find YOU, in there!"

It's a statement I remarkably often make to people who share their writing with me.

What I mean by that is that I will read someone's article or book and it is so wrapped up in the "factual" that I have no sense of the author's voice.

I have heard musicians say that they can tell when a piece of classical music is played by a computer, because it lacks "soul." 

So it is, with writing.

Often, this is a result of having been taught — probably in high school or freshman English in college —that the "proper" format for writing is "3rd person, singular."

I suppose it also explains why I tend to turn down invitations to edit mechanical or scientific papers and books. I'm more interested in people stories than thing stories. 

On Being Compelling

With the advent of the Internet and self-publishing there is just so much writing out in the world that a major part of creating a compelling personal brand is that you need to have a "human voice" that comes through to the reader.

If you don't, you become just another voice that fades into the noise of the crowd.

Indeed, we were told in school to not use first person when we write! But what makes a book about your experiences in India compelling is that they are YOUR experiences... not the experiences of some undefined "it" that could be any one of several hundred decent travel or spiritual writers. 

I also spent many years working in marketing and advertising, and one of the most important concepts in getting a product seen is "differentiation."

When you write something, your unique angle — your differentiation — is that it's your story. So don't take yourself OUT of the story, just because some grammar book or style manual said to do so!

And, to be perfectly blunt about it, if the thing that matters most to you is grammatical accuracy? I'm probably not the right editor for you...

So, write from the heart!

Making You Look as Good as Possible!

A friend of mine had been playing around with the idea of writing a book of his life experiences living in various parts of Asia in the 1980's and 90's.

He came to me with some notes and asked "What exactly does an editor DO?"

Of course, there are plenty of excellent definitions — most of them quite long winded — of what book and manuscript editors do.

But that wasn't the sort of answer he was looking for.

Eventually, the "Elevator Speech" version I came up with goes like this:

"I take your ideas, your words and your voice and make you look as good as I possibly can!"

And that's pretty much what it amounts to.

Whether you bring me scribbles on a napkin or a nearly perfect first draft, my job is to make you look as good as possible. And it's really our job, as we will work together to do this!

I realize that it's also why I enjoy working with authors from highly creative or spiritual fields, where the primary objective is to convey an idea and essence, rather than just go through an exercise in "mechanical accuracy."

Editing is not my Full Time Job!

I originally became an "Editor" somewhat accidentally.

What I mean by that is that I never set out with the ambition of becoming an editor, I just ended up doing the work because friends shared their writing, and I helped them "polish it up."

I happen to be really good at that.

It makes me wonder how many people actually set out to become editors, and how many just sort of stumble into it.

Although I have taken on occasional editing jobs for several decades, being an editor is not really my profession — in fact, I have many professions.

It is only thanks to the encouragement of several recent clients — along with the fact that a retail business my wife and I ran together closed down in June of 2019 — that I even call myself "Editor," these days.

Whereas I am happy to take on new projects that are interesting to me, particularly if I have a good rapport with the author, this is still not my full time job.

Which makes me ponder the whole issue of how we tend to do a better job at work we still find enjoyable and fulfilling... attributes that have a way of disappearing when we are under constant pressure to "perform" according to tight schedules and demands.

Too Much (Bad) Content — A Philosophical Ramble

The world of the Internet and on-demand self-publishing has been a blessing for many writers. People who have previously labored in obscurity have found outlets for their words, and many have enjoyed great success.

At the same time, we have also ended up with somewhat of a nightmare. 

What do I mean?

Well, now pretty much anyone who's ever been told by a doting and enabling aunt that they are good at writing can get their work in front of a potential audience.

As holds true for much of the human experience, what is our greatest strength can also be our Achilles heel.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of freedom of speech and all that, but we also live in the age of "Information Overload."

This morning, I had 252 emails in my inbox, quite a few of which were summaries of "newly published" pieces on various news sites and "bloggy" article aggregator sites. 

With the time demands made on most of us — and that would include myself — I'm barely going to be able to just process the email, let alone to spend time reading largely unnecessary content on several dozen web sites!

Think about it: If you end up with 500 people all thinking you have just six minutes to go read their article, you are already up to 50 hours a day!

That's what "Information Overload" IS, to my way of thinking.

The Concept of "Adding Value"

In one of the blogging communities I belong to, we have recently been discussing the importance (or lack) of "Quality Content."

There is a strong belief among many engaged in "Social Publishing" that in the age of social media, pretty much anything goes.

As these discussions go back and forth, I find that I have grown less attached to the notion of quality content, rather than focusing on the question of whether or not something adds value. 

If you're doing little more than making noise, while not actually adding anything of value to a dialogue, why bother? 

Of course, that's just my personal opinion!

You Should TELL People You're Working Again!

Here I am, creating yet another blog to announce something I am doing.

Several friends and acquaintances — for whom I've done editing work — suggested that I "must" have a web site, so the world would know that I am available as an editor.

Editing is not really my profession... it's merely one-of-many-things I do as part of the greater task of scraping out an independent living without resorting to a corporate job.

All the editing gigs I have done over the past 15 years or so have been by referral, not because I was "out there," soliciting work.

"Wait... sounds like you are basically UN-selling yourself, yet you are building a web site and blog?"

Oh, why not!

Anyway... yes, I am available for proofreading and editing work of anything from articles to full-length book manuscripts. Although I have never formally held a full time job as a "Book Editor," I do have a lot of experience in helping people with their writing, and basically making their work shine.

Because this is not really my job, I'm somewhat selective in what I take on. In order for me to give you the best possible result, both the material and the author's personality/vision and I have to be a good match.

Have a poke around these pages and drop me an email if there's anything you'd like to have a chat about!

It Always Seems to Start with the Beginning!

Back when we were in school, most of us were taught that an essay (or almost any writing assignment) should have a beginning, a middle and an end.

I'll be the first to admit that it's a pretty good starting point. However, I have never been all that good at following convention.

In a slightly romantic sort of way, I can trace my roots as an editor to the day my dad told me that many publishers will send you a dollar if you can find and report a typo in one of their books.

Truthfully, I have no idea whether or not this was really true, but it set me down a path — as about a 10-year old — of always looking at the "patterns" of language and particularly written prose.

In case you are wondering, this happened around 1970...

As much as anything, I consider myself a bit of an "accidental" editor and proofreader.

I have always wanted to be been a writer... or so it seems. When I was about seven or eight, my mother bought me several blank exercise books and gave them to me with the hope that I would turn out to be artistic.

Instead of drawings, I soon filled the pages with words — fanciful tales of my teddy bear flying to the moon, and life inside a leaf.

Where many of my young peers wanted to grow up to become fire fighters or astronauts, my dream was to "tell stories!"

Life, however, had other plans for me.

You could say that my first "real" editing gig happened in my freshman year of college. After handing in my first essay assignment for freshman English, the professor pulled me aside and asked my why I was even in his class.

"Uhmmm... because it's required...?" I replied.

He then told me (I should add he was a published author with several books to his credit) that my essay was graduate school dissertation level, and it would be a complete waste of both our time for me to sit through the class. He then suggested that I shouldn't come to class anymore, and he'd give me an "A" if I'd be his teaching assistant and help him both grade papers and mentor struggling classmates during his office hours.

And that, in a nutshell, is how I started spending more time looking at other people's writing than my own.

As I write these words — with 2019 coming to a close — I can say that I have amassed  about forty years of experience in "grading" and "correcting" writing.