“Just get it down on paper, and then we’ll see what to do with it.” – Maxwell Perkins “Getting it down on paper” is the tricky part to beginning a book. Especially if the idea for a book has been floating around in your head for a while, it’s hard to know how to start. Many writers also worry about what the first line of their book will sound like. They put a lot of pressure on themselves to come up with just the right words to form a…read more
Has everyone always said to you, “You should write that down,” or “That could be a book”? You know you have specific expertise, and perhaps extraordinary experience, in your field…well, why don’t you write it down? There’s no time like the present. Many successful books started just this way (think, Tuesdays with Morrie). Don’t worry if you’re not a writer. You don’t have to be. You just have to have a good story to tell or a special insight to share. All the rest–structure, grammar, punctuation, decisions about publication–you can…read more
I noticed the birds the other morning as I stood outside watching the sunrise at 7 a.m. in hopes of resetting my melatonin levels. I was counting the days till the clocks change. The lack of light in the morning was keeping me sleeping and sleepy. I knew that letting the sun hit me as early as possible would help my body have more energy at the right time of day. I heard the birds stirring and thought of how naturally they stay sleeping until the sunrise, so although they…read more
A lot of my clients and friends are wondering what my opinion is, of Amazon in its “war” with the publisher Hachette. The bare facts are these: We officially know nothing about the negotiations between the two, but most industry insiders are guessing that the issue is over terms for ebooks, and that Amazon wants to keep more of the money than Hachette wants. (For further details, here’s the link to the New York Times piece on it.) On its face I have no problem with this. Amazon is a…read more
I kept hearing about yet another pedestrian death on the streets of SF. There have been 5 so far this year. Last year there were 21 pedestrian deaths. This is people dying because they don’t cross the street fast enough (a 6-year-old and an 86-year-old were among those killed last year), and in our culture getting people where they need to go (speed) is more important than human life. This is the one issue of linear vs. natural time that upsets me the most. (Watch my 3-minute YouTube explanation of…read more
And did you see this? Notice all the cool old typewriters in the background!
I have found in working with writers over many, many years, that underneath perfectionism and procrastination over why their manuscripts were never finished, is a deep subconscious fear. It is the fear of being rejected by other writers, or a circle of friends, who aren’t succeeding. This might sound laughable at first, but there’s a deep reason for it. It turns out that in order to survive as a species, humans have had to rely on the larger group. We literally have it bred into our bones to fit in…read more
After the excitement of finishing your first draft, and the tedium of making all the fixes and changes you knew you had to do, how do you know when you are really done and the manuscript is ready to send out, or that you need to polish it some more? The answer to this is tricky. On the one hand, you definitely don’t want to send your baby off to be read by agents before it’s done. You want to give it every opportunity to succeed. On the other hand,…read more
•Pick someone you trust, but not necessarily someone you know well. Sometimes a comparative stranger can be more helpful than a close friend. •Pick someone who regularly reads the kind of book you’ve written (i.e., memoir, chick lit, mystery, history, etc.) •Pick someone who actively engages their own creativity. It doesn’t have to be a fellow writer, it could be a musician or even a scientist, but if they use their own creativity, they are less likely to feel jealous of your ability to manifest a complete piece of creative…read more
To ensure that you don’t waste time or duplicate work, take the advice of a seasoned editor and use a hierarchical system for making changes. First come big, structural changes. These need to be in place first. I’m referring to chapter order, or large chunks of writing within chapters. Then move on from there to the level of paragraph. This has more to do with the way information is flowing on the page. Only after you have dealt with the paragraphs can you come down to the level of…read more