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uncovered about both how to approach such a project and, well, \u00a0my own darned self. \u00a0For anyone who has felt they wanted to write a book, but has not put fingertip to keyboard, here is a brief description of my experience.<\/p>\n1. \u00a0Conception<\/span>: \u00a0Many of us have at least one book marinating inside our heads. \u00a0If you have ever said, “I’d like to write a book,” then you’ve got one resting comfortably inside your cranium. \u00a0That is step one.<\/p>\n 2. \u00a0Blurting<\/span>: I finally goosed myself into writing when I sat down in April, 2014 and prepared a Table of Contents, which was a good outline for what I wanted to say. \u00a0Then, I just blurted. \u00a0I spent about five\u00a0months simply getting it out of my head and into my computer. \u00a0I knew it did not matter how it sounded because\u00a0nobody was going to see it but me<\/em>.<\/p>\n 3. \u00a0First Refinement Phase(s)<\/span>: \u00a0Once out there, I started to laboriously review, reorganize and clean up what I had written. \u00a0Again, this was for my eyes only.<\/p>\n 4. \u00a0First Feedback Phase<\/span>: \u00a0Once I felt okay with it, I sent my work product out to a handful of dear, and smart, friends for feedback. \u00a0I was initially nervous about this step, but had recently bought a great book\u00a0Thanks for the Feedback<\/a>\u00a0– The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well\u00a0<\/em>and it helped gird my loins for external comment on my baby. \u00a0People were generous and spot-on with a number of their comments. \u00a0In response, I put the book through a massive re-organization and re-write. \u00a0I shared the new approach with a smaller group of people because, to be honest, I was afraid of burning people out. \u00a0After all, it is quite the gift of time and energy to read someone else’s work and give thoughtful, cogent feedback. \u00a0After positive comment, I was ready to find an editor.<\/p>\n 5. \u00a0Working With an Editor<\/span>: \u00a0Thus, the title of this blog post. \u00a0A web search brought me to the site of the Northwest Independent Editors Guild, and after a fairly thorough vetting process I chose my current favorite person in the entire world (FPITEW) other than my wife and daughter (FPITEWOTMWAD), Jennifer D. Munro<\/a>. \u00a0Last week, I finished \u00a0reviewing her comments and I don’t think a day went by that I failed to send her an ardent appreciative email. \u00a0A good editor projects such\u00a0care<\/em>\u00a0onto your creation. \u00a0The process of improving the work product while maintaining the writer’s voice is challenging and if you are lucky, you will find that combination of skill and kindness. \u00a0(It didn’t hurt that Jennifer liked my sense of humor.) \u00a0I believe I am an excellent writer. \u00a0I enjoy the process and for years have received uniformly positive feedback. \u00a0I believe this affirmation gave me the confidence to embark on the project in the first place. \u00a0Yet, I have learned a great deal about writing and the places I can improve, markedly<\/em>,\u00a0\u00a0through Jennifer’s kind and rapier-sharp feedback. \u00a0There were many places throughout my review of her “track changes” comments that I thought, “This comment is appropriate and helpful. \u00a0I can imagine it having been made by someone with a harsher hand and instead of learning an important lesson I can use in the future, I would have been chagrined, embarrassed, defensive and dispirited. \u00a0I’d had enough of that kind of treatment in my first year in law school many years ago.”<\/p>\n So here’s to you Jennifer Munro. \u00a0Every cent I pay you for your service is the best money I ever spent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m writing a book. Actually, I’m well into the process and expect for it to be available in August. \u00a0I have titled it\u00a0Divorce (or Not): A Guide,\u00a0and its 300+ pages will cover much of what I have pondered, and learned, professionally over the past 40 years. \u00a0Each step in the process of conceiving, creating and Continue reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,35,1],"tags":[28],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1393"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1396,"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393\/revisions\/1396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}