Wanted: Dead Serious Freelancers

I want you.

OK. Let me clarify a bit.

If you’re a drop dead serious, no whining allowed, absolutely committed to success (no matter how you personally define it), freelance writer, keep reading.

If you don’t fit this description, please skip this section. You’re only wasting your time.

I’m sorry to be so blunt. But a new situation has presented itself.

I was on the phone yesterday with a kind man who was in the process of purchasing a particular machine that would print and bind a book in just a few easy steps right in his own office.

As we spoke, he mentioned that he wanted to print his wife’s books himself. Fine idea, I suppose. But his reasoning absolutely floored me.

“She hates to sell. She can’t find a publisher so we want to self publish her books. I don’t think she’ll sell many copies so we don’t want to spend a lot of money printing (not to mention storing) thousands of books.”

So, here’s a fellow (an absolutely wonderful man) with an incredibly talented wife who has a unique message to share with the world… willing to spend 45 grand on a machine that’ll print very small quantities of her books because she doesn’t feel comfortable with the writing/publishing/promotion process.

Totally directionless, they’re set to head out into the cut-throat world of book publishing based on some information they’d read in a couple of cheap magazines.

How sad is that?

It’s a sobering commentary that those with the greatest talent, the most important messages, the fabulous, faceless writers of this age often languish on the sidelines while the less gifted thrive simply because they’ve got their hands some ridiculously easy, dead simple insider information.

Drives me utterly crazy.

And that stops today. This minute. This second.

If you’re as fed up about this situation as I am, I want your e-mail. I’m taking care of business and personally propelling as many freelancers towards success as humanly possible.

This will be a no-holds barred adventure of a lifetime. Failure isn’t going to be an option.

At this moment, I’ve got a loose plan but aren’t exactly sure how this dream will unfold. But as Bilbo Baggins says in Lord of the Rings… “I think I’m ready for another adventure.”

I hope you are, too.

Here’s the link: http://filbertpublishing.com/secret.html

Vibrating the Floor With Sound

It’s nearly 6:00PM and I really should get out of the office.

It’s been a busy day, another issue of Writing Etc. (my zine for writers) is set to sail. I worked on my book. Client stuff’s shaping up well.

Storm’s moving in, darkness creeps across the floor, the dogs are uber-friendly knowing supper’s close at hand, and Elton John’s blaring on the computer.

I know. I shouldn’t play CDs on the computer. Wears out the drive, my son tells me.

But ever since I received some big honking computer speakers for Christmas, I just can’t bear to allow those electronic marvels to sit quiet on the floor.

So they throb away, totally filling the room with lyrics, making my ears buzz.

Gotta love it.

Song writers amaze me. Always have.

I just can’t get over the economy of their words.

I mean seriously… don’t you wish you would have written something like…

“You're gonna hear electric music
Solid walls of sound”

(From Bennie and the Jets, John/Taupin)

I admit. Some lyrics border on cheese-tastic. OK. A lot of them deserve that title.

But wow… once you hit a fantastic line, doesn’t it just give you the chills?

And I guess that’s what I’m looking for right now as the day winds down: a line or two that reminds me why I continue searching for the perfect phrase, the eloquent prose, the down and dirty line-up of words that’ll adequately describe what goes on inside this foggy head.

Hehehehe. That sounded downright deep. I better close shop for the day and crack open a good book. I think I’ll let Elton CD run its course first, though.

After all, there are legions of words variations I haven’t fully experienced yet.

Talk later,

Beth