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One of the strange things about being a writer is the feeling that the world revolves around you. I mean, YOU'RE the talent making things go. YOU'RE the brilliance awakening others to life. YOU'RE the artist, YOU'RE the creator (sound similar to another Creator somewhere in history?), YOU'RE the mover/shaker/doer.
Aren't you?
Well, yes and no. Actually, it depends upon your point-of-view. I know a whole lot of editors who think that you're the vehicle to a destination, |
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nothing more. And that they're the fuel.
And when it comes right down to it, that's the truth, isn't it? What good is the shiniest, fastest, sleekest sports car in all the world if it's sitting in the garage with an empty fuel tank? Of course, you can also say that a barrel full of fuel doesn't do anyone any good without the car. But the difference is that the barrel full of fuel doesn't NEED to go anywhere fast. The sports car does.
Now, I'm saying all of this to you not because I'm feeling particularly witty today. No, I'm saying it because it's true, and you need to understand just how true it is. You're the shopkeeper. Your editor is your customer. Or the person for whom you ghostwrite. Or whomever else buys your material for real dollars, actual coins of the realm. You're nothing without that person. The best writer in the world, after all, is the poorest writer in the world without a Patron Saint of Pocketbooks to fall back on!
So spend a little time thinking of that the next time you're forced to interrelate with your customer. Remember who has the talent (you, of course); but never forget who has the deep pockets. Ask yourself, after you've snapped at an editor for failing to recognize your inherent brilliance or castigated a client for failing to give his ghostwriter his due, how you'd react to a shopkeeper who treated his customers that way.
Try it. You may just find that a little bit of humility pays dividends.
Or royalties, as the case may be.
Until then...
Smoke if you got 'em.
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