This is what I expect from my writing collaborators, and what they can expect from me. Only philistines violate these principles. These are the rules. If you follow them, we can work together; welcome to the fellowship of the writing community. If you don’t follow them, I want nothing to do with you, and I…
Last week, I received a request to connect on LinkedIn with a woman named Mara, a senior executive from McKinsey. Since the profile matched the sort of people I tend to connect with and work with, I agreed. Pretty soon after we’d connected, I got a direct message with one word: “Hi.” Not very McKinsey….
You say you’re a writer? Good for you. But if you really want to be valued (and paid more), you need to constantly increase your versatility. You need to be a full-stack writer. Full-stack developers are valuable A full-stack application developer is one who is adept at all elements of creating software, including both front-end…
There are three sources of business for a freelancer: repeat business, referrals, and leads. Repeat business is great, referrals are very good, and leads are problematic. How do you want to spend your time? Here’s a definition of a successful freelance business: Spending your time doing what you do best for people who appreciate it,…
Google Docs is a pain for book collaboration. That was the general sentiment in a recent discussion I had with a bunch of writers, editors, and ghostwriters. If you’re going to use Google Docs, learn about access control. That’s the key to collaborating without driving each other bonkers. The challenge writers and editors face with…
Lawyers use some precise terms that sometimes look clunky in actual writing. If you don’t want to sound like a lawyer, don’t write like you’re writing a contract. Here are some legalisms to avoid. And/or Logicians (and ordinary humans) know that “or” doesn’t exclude the possibility of “and.” Examples from actual text I’m editing. (s)…
Today’s thesis is this: Flow is more important to writing than anything else. So you should do everything legally possible to achieve it. What is flow? Flow is the state in which creation seems effortless. It’s like going downhill: there is challenge but no struggle and you make steady progress. As the psychologist who defined…
My friend Merlina McGovern — the smartest copy editor I’ve ever worked with — got laid off from my old company last month. After 16 years working for Forrester, she’s starting a business as a freelancer. She had questions, so we talked. Since any freelancer starting a business might have similar questions, let’s walk through…
I recently got a call from a woman I’d presented to years ago, since then a senior executive in several technology companies. She wanted me to edit her book. “What’s the book about?” I asked. “It’s about web3; you know, NFTs, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and all that stuff,” she explained. “I can’t help you,” I responded….