It has been my life long dream to become a best selling author with my name prominently listed on The New York Times Best Sellers List. While I have not yet achieved my lofty goal, mainly because unlike my author friend, Susanne Bacon, I have never written a book, I do take great pride in the fact that I am listed as a worst selling author on The New York Times Worst Selling List.
As I practice my writing craft pushing myself towards becoming more Susanne Bacon-like, I try to learn from all my writing friends.
It was the great Don Doman, who the other day penned a few words in The Suburban Times that were meaningful to me. He said something like and I am paraphrasing, “I write on one day and then let my written work rest like a steak coming off the grill. The next morning I look at my writing with a fresh eyeball during which time I make improvements, additions, and deletions. Then I turn my draft over to my wife, Peg, for polishing like a pair of Army boots.”
In my effort to become more Don Doman-like, I took his advice. I wrote this article yesterday. I then let all 367 words rest overnight. This morning the first thing I did was look at my written work with a fresh, yet bloodshot, eyeball. My big improvement was a giant deletion whereby I deleted all 367 words and wrote what you see in its place.
What follows is my fresh start to my article and simply put, it takes the form of three traffic safety tips communicated in 29 words instead of 367 words.
TRAFFIC SAFETY TIP #1: DO NOT FOLLOW TOO CLOSELY.
TRAFFIC SAFETY TIP #2: WATCH FOR LOOSE GRAVEL ON THE ROADWAY.
TRAFFIC SAFETY TIP #3: DO NOT TEXT & DRIVE.
There you have it. I am one step closer to becoming a best selling author especially given my ability to make my point crystal clear.
I knew this would make me chuckle big time, Joe. Thank you!
As to Don Doman’s writing tip, I totally agree, and it’s what I do with my Suburban Times articles as well. Except I lack a Peg-like spouse, who’d be willing to read my rumblings ever so often.
As to “worst-selling” – I have a hunch you’d be among the top five of Lakewood’s own list, probably at the very top, too. Chapeau, my friend!
Hi Joe, I thought I’d take a moment to write. Even though we live in far-off Edmonds now, we still read the SubTimes because I promised Dave Sclair I would do so always in an effort to make his son look good. But I must say, I only read what you write (post) and the obituaries. Today as I read the obituaries I was pleased to not see my name once more. I’ll check back tomorrow. Best Regards, John Magnuson
Thanks, Joe! I needed the laughs.