Open book

The book is finished and has even been edited by a professional editor. Those who have read it, and some are English academics tell me it is very good. So why hasn’t it sold? Do I need to revisit and re-edit? I took several books off the shelf on ‘editing your work’. They all seem so broad in suggestions as to what I might need to do. Of course there is always the reader critic who also happens to be an editor. The problem like so many today is my lack of cash. This is my dilemma and like all problems I sit and mull over looking for the best solution. I will read again Michael Seidman book “The Complete Guide to Editing Your Fiction.” If my memory serves me well I didn’t really find it helpful the first time because I had already had the book edited and there seem nothing wrong with it. Maybe I should look for over long sentences. My protagonist is a very likable young man; he does have extra baggage with his very large family. The sub plot carries the story along ...

A presenter must always be aware of the type of people in the audience. Each person listens and learns differently. As writers do we ever consider the reader in the same way? What we write must be of interest to the reader or they won’t bother to read it. How many times have you started to read a book only to put down after a few pages? Never to pick the book up again and to disregard the authors other books. I analyzed three books I started but gave up on and found the writers hadn’t taken into considered the type of person I was. The first type of person we must consider is the ‘what in if for me’. The reader needs to get something out of the book without too much hard work. The writer must give the reader a reason to continue reading. In the mystery writing genre this can be accomplished by holding back a secret only to hint at what it is to the reader. They will continue to turn pages to find out the answer. Remember it has to be something worthwhile rather than a red herr...

I have never been a star struck person for me they are just human being who have had the luck and in some case the talent to become famous. After all we all started the same way out of the womb of our mothers. Some may have arrived in privileged surroundings but they are no better than you or I. I remember the staff at Goldman Sachs when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the office. Those middle-aged ladies were acting as though they were thirteen and Justin Beiber had arrived. I continued to work ignoring a man who has since left the state of California in a mess. My instinct was right and I still believe he needs acting lessons. So you will be surprised to know I was once star struck. I had just finished the Vogue cover shoot with photographer David Bailey. It was David who in the nineteen sixties made people like Twiggy famous. We had agreed to work on a Japanese advertisement reminiscent of Curt Jurgens in The Blue Angel. I never saw the finished product but I p...