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

[Sally Larwood]

I love what you do and the fact that you do Roger. I don't understand a lot of it, but that doesn't mean I dont appreciate it. 
I reckon your book would be fascinating
Sal
Sent from my iPhone

On 21/11/2012, at 15:05, Roger <woodcatau at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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/>
>>> 
>>