In the last decade I’ve been intimately involved with 11 nonfiction book projects. I wrote or cowrote four, edited five, and ghostwrote one-and-a-half (one is not yet complete). These were the most rewarding experiences in my career. Here’s what I learned: the keys to success in a book project are planning, passion, trust, perseverance, and…
Speeches $5,000 to $10,000, depending on audience and travel. Clear Writing Workshop $4,000 per half-day for workshops within the Boston area. $4,500 per half-day for workshops that require travel. Book Idea Development (Book Whisperer) $3,000 for 90-minute debriefing session and development of treatment (one to two pages) Editing Varies based on projects: priced at $400…
I have been relentlessly focused on accomplishment. Reaching for the top is fun, but I need to pay more attention to what’s happening as I’m climbing. I don’t know where in my youth I developed the obsession to always reach for more, but it has always been there. SAT scores, graduating top of my class,…
I made a pretty decent living as a writer this year, and I’m grateful — not many writers can say that. I thought it might help other writers and whatever friends and fans I have out there to peek into how I did it, so here’s a retrospective of a writer’s life in 2017. I…
Writing a book is hard enough. Adding another person makes it twice as hard. Collaboration only makes sense if it’s asymmetrical — if you have complementary skills and different jobs. I’ve written three books with coauthors, edited a few more, and am currently ghostwriting parts of books with other authors. Coauthoring sounds like it’s going…
I’ve noticed something about the significant writing projects I work on: the faster they go, the better the results. It’s not that writing in a hurry is effective (it isn’t). It’s that projects completed in a short timeframe benefit from a higher level of concentration. You might call it an agile writing and editing process….
Just because you’re talented doesn’t mean you need to be arrogant. That’s what I learned from my remodeling contractor, and it’s my philosophy, too. I recently launched a significant remodeling job on my 100-year-old house: rip and replace everything in our two main bathrooms; replace a rotting front portico; and update a laundry room with…
Donald Trump has been great for my blog, if not for the level of discourse in the nation. He helped me hone my language-focused political analysis in 46 blog posts. For an LSD flashback experience, starting with his announcement in June of last year, just read the titles of what I wrote, with a little…
Editing is hard. It’s hard to provide useful advice. And it’s hard to take it and use it to make your writing better. This is editing week at Without Bullshit; each day I’ll share my best tips for each of the five levels of editing, as shown in the graphic below. Today: I show how you…