TheBanyanTree: Of Authors, Writing and other things; Warning - lengthy

[Roger]

I don't mind making money out of writing but it's a factor, not the goal.
What I really want to do is get the stuff I have learned about healing and
other things - and practised mostly every day for the last twelve or so
years - *out there* so that other people may have that knowledge and
benefit from it. I know that there are some people (even in this group) who
think that the sort of healing I do or the dowsing (divination) or the
natural control of weeds and feral animals using essences and
radionic-style broadcasting, is bunkum or nonsense or, at worst, that I am
a charlatan, or at best, misguided/misled. But sceptics or scepticism
doesn't worry me - everyone is entitled to their opinion. What I do know is
there are people walking around quite healthy today who have benefited from
something I've done, who might not be here otherwise, and also that the
soil in some parts of this planet is healthier than it was when toxins were
poured on it to kill the weeds.

Also I have to say that writing the book I mentioned in the earlier post
hekped to bring back some of the memory I lost in '95 when I had 'an
expansion of consciousness' and saved my sanity into the bargain. So I owe
a debt to Something else and writing about it and having it read would help
to settle that account.

Roger


On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 11:15 AM, Monique Colver
<monique.colver at gmail.com>wrote:

> There's certainly easier ways to make money. I mean, if making money is
> what one wants to do.
>
> Monique Colver
> Colver Business Solutions
> www.colverbusinesssolutions.com
> monique.colver at gmail.com
> (425) 772-6218
>
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 3:58 PM, Peter Macinnis <
> petermacinnis at ozemail.com.au> wrote:
>
> > On 21/11/2012 06:30, Monique Colver wrote:
> >
> >> Some self-pubbed writers are hobby writers.
> >>
> >
> > I'm not self-pubbed (yet, anyhow: there are several things that haven't
> > yet sold that may go that way without ever appearing in hard copy).  I
> have
> > no problem at all with self-pub, especially if your expertise is in
> > Goldfish of the Gobi Desert or Antarctic parakeets or some such.  The
> world
> > needs such stuff, but it won't ever be a commercial market.
> >
> > For now, I write for traditional paper publishers. Writing is,
> > nonetheless, my hobby.  It can be a lucrative one, but it's still a
> hobby.
> >  I happen to be a hobby writer who is professional about his hobby.
> >
> > My favourite publisher of the moment is less than lucrative, but they
> make
> > beautiful books because they contribute superlative editing and brilliant
> > design.  My TRUE hobby is changing how people see the world, so working
> > with that publisher works for me.  Beautiful books sell and make the
> > publisher money, which I get to influence minds.  Win-win!
> >
> > If my hobby was making money, I would either not be writing at all, or I
> > would write a diet book.  (I have the plan for the vitamin Ch diet. This
> > little-known essential nutrient is found in chocolate, champagne, cheese,
> > Chambertin, chorizo, chips, Chianti, Charolais chateaubriand, chardonnay,
> > churros, charcuterie, champignons, chowder, chipolate, cherimoya,
> > chestnuts, chablis, chicken, Chartreuse, char-grilled chops, cherry
> brandy
> > chasers...you get the drift.  Money but no honour with that one.)
> >
> > (Note: charcoal, chives, chutney and chicory are at present provoking
> > serious chatter from the Chair of the Chollege of Chastronomy, but
> chilled
> > chimps, chlorinated chub and chronologies have been ruled out).
> >
> > OK, let's be serious: a bit about craft. I slap together a first draft,
> > make a couple of strafing runs, give it a spell-check, write down what my
> > themes were, then run the bulldozer over it, to eliminate non-theme
> stuff.
> >  Next I do a critical read.
> >
> > This leaves the ms littered with stubs and fossils of ineptly done edits,
> > so next, I convert the text to an mp3 using TextAloud and LISTEN while
> > reading, and correct sloppy wording, typos, fossils and stubs etc.
>  Another
> > spell-check comes next before I print out a hard copy, and then Chris
> and I
> > read it, mark it up, argue a bit, correct the ms, spell-check, and if
> there
> > is time, listen to it again.
> >
> > That's before it goes to a professional editor, but it the editor can now
> > concentrate on the intricacies.  Even if the professional editor was left
> > out (as for most penurious hobbyists going the self-pub route), the ms is
> > none too shabby.
> >
> > One of my peeves is the idiot educational administrator who says "we
> don't
> > need books, because you can get everything you need from the internet".
> >  These people don't understand books, writing, education, wisdom or
> > anything.  I do web pages as well--some of my sites have pulled quite a
> few
> > hits, so I know a bit about that side of the business, but I can tell you
> > now that there was little planning, research, design, editing or revision
> > in those pages.
> >
> > That's the problem with some of the ebooks I see these days.  The ebooks
> > we will look back on later as classics will be the ones where the author
> > made the extra effort, or paid for somebody to make the effort.  All
> > manuscripts need editing, design and the light touch of a canny
> independent
> > mind.
> >
> > Those craft things I listed are things we *can* all do, and *must* all
> > do--even if I skip most of them with my own web pages.
> >
> > peter
> >
> > --
> > Peter Macinnis, Manly, the birthplace of Australian surfing
> > feral word herder, also herbal remedies, bespoke fish
> > hooks, umbrellas mended and budgerigar requisites
> > http://oldblockwriter.**blogspot.com/<
> http://oldblockwriter.blogspot.com/>
> >
>