Hens Lay Eggs
food for thought
What the heart wants
On May 29, my Facebook feed brought up photos of a lovely black Morgan mare that looked nearly identical to my lovely Lady Anastasia who had passed away in 2020 at the ripe old age of 35. My heart lusted after that horse, but the horse was scheduled to be auctioned off on June 1 somewhere in Pennsylvania, and I already had commitments for the day. So, I bid her farewell and wished her a soft landing.
On June 3, that mare popped up in my Facebook feed again. An internet acquaintance who is also a Morgan aficionado purchased the horse and another Morgan gelding at that auction, rescuing them from the terrible experience of the auction cycle. She offered both horses for sale to good homes.
It had to be fate.
“I don’t need a third horse,” I told myself.
My heart really wanted this mare to come home to us.
“I don’t need a third horse,” I told my husband. “What am I going to do with a third horse?”
“Put her in the rotation,” my husband replied, referring to the order in which I ride my horses. “When am I picking her up?”
I wavered, quibbled with myself, and finally made a decision despite not needing a third horse.
You already know what happened. We brought Bar Nothing Hazell home yesterday.
I still don’t need a third horse, but I really wanted this one.
I’ve noticed in my decades of animal husbandry that there is no limit to how much the human heart can love. As we say in my household, there’s always room for one more.
So … about Hazel. She’s a 2010 model, about 15 hands on a tall day, and lean. Don’t worry, we’ll fatten her up. If there’s one thing we know how to do, it’s fatten up our animals. She seems calm and sensible and kind. All four hooves are shod, so I left a message with the farrier to schedule an appointment to have those shoes removed. She’s trained to both ride and drive.
My thanks go to Lori Sargeant of Three Fates Morgans who plucked Hazel from the auction cycle. I look forward to many good years with Hazel.
What’s involved in ghostwriting?
The very nature of ghostwriting makes it a murky topic shrouded in a fog of mystery and concealment. This makes finding ghostwriters difficult, discerning what’s considered reasonable and appropriate rates difficult, and understanding the ghostwriting process difficult.
That’s a lot of difficulty.
Gotham Ghostwriters published an article that sheds light on the cost aspect of ghoswriting. If you’re considering having a ghostwriter do the heavy lifting for your project, then “for an objective dose of reality,” I urge you to read this article: “Straight Talk for New Authors: What to Expect About the Cost of Hiring a Ghostwriter.”
The article by Gotham Ghoswriters candidly explains what a ghostwriter does to earn those fees, but how do you determine whether you even want or need to hire a ghostwriter? That decision must come first.
Who would you hire a ghostwriter?
As my colleague Judy Lane-Boyer stated, “Tons of people want to write books. I had no idea what a huge percentage of the population does until I became a ghostwriter! But for the vast majority, the book dream stays in their heads . . . because they DON’T know where to start or what to do.”
Think of it in a less personal sense.
Consider business. Every company out there produces written content, from social media posts to technical manuals. Someone has to write all that content to convey information, instruct on procedures, impart insight, and market the business or products. From brochures to case studies to newsletters to catalog descriptions to annual reports: business generates a lot of content, and they hire people to write that content. Those writers don’t get bylines; they get paid.
Now let’s return to you, personally. Be honest with yourself because honesty is critical to making a smart decision.
- How good is your writing? Is it “good enough for a report” but not truly engaging?
- Do you even like to write? Doing something you dislike only makes the project more difficult.
- Have you already written a book-length manuscript, or even a short story? Writing 50,000 words or more is a big commitment.
- Do you have time and are you motivated? Or would you rather hand off the project to someone else with the skill and creativity to do your idea justice?
If you’ve ever tried writing a story and, upon reading what you wrote, noticed it felt flat, then you have learned that writing is craft. Craftsmanship is necessary to produce good quality work. Craftsmanship understands rules and conventions and follows them to ensure the product meets the standards of professionalism. It particularly applies to much business content, such as policy manuals and instruction booklets.
However, creating content that engages the reader requires that extra soupçon of artistry to elevate prose into something people want to read, something that will engage and hold their attention while imparting great advice, keen insight, or just entertaining them for a while. Attaining that level of skill requires more than craftsmanship; it requires talent. A ghostwriter brings talent, a love of writing, and the requisite artistry to elevate your story that acquires and holds the reader’s attention.
For more on how hiring a ghostwriter might be your best decision, read this article: “13 Ways a Ghostwriter Can Help Your Write Your Book.”
If hiring a ghostwriter makes sense for you, then consider hiring Hen House Publishing. I specialize in ghostwriting short form nonfiction (e.g., blogs, articles, LinkedIn posts, etc.) spanning diverse topics and both short- and long-form fiction across a wide spectrum of genres.
Except horror. I don’t do horror.
Another year closer to retirement
My son, Brian, is embarking upon the next phase of adulthood: fatherhood. That means I’m going to be a grandmother. Brian and the mother-to-be have already determined what my husband and I will be called: Nonna and Papa.
I prefer Nonna to Granny, so I’m not going to complain.
Having just celebrated (not really celebrated) my 58th birthday, I’m at the age when being a grandparent isn’t unusual and retirement looks better and better every day. However, I’m not quite ready for retirement.
A good bit of my weekdays is filled with hustling for work. Being freelance, I’m always hustling. I embody the hustle culture, even though I draw firm boundaries between work and personal life. I’m always on the lookout for new projects.
The desire, urge, or even need to continue working is imbued in my psyche. That strong, driving work ethic is part of my personality, even though I do idleness really well. (My husband can’t handle idleness.) Work fulfills a deep-seated need to contribute and be productive. It’s a need I don’t really see in younger generations; however, I suspect every generation before mine thought the same thing about my generation.
So, what type of work do I seek?
I primarily look for editing gigs. I enjoy working with authors to improve their writing. Editing a book manuscript is my happy place. That’s where I excel.
There’s a certain pleasure in helping an author improve his or her written content. The trick is to do so without overwriting the author’s distinctive and unique voice. That becomes extra tricky when an author dwells overmuch in passive voice or “telling” mode. I must fight the inclination to rewrite entire paragraphs to suit my idea of what should be there and restrict myself to margin comments and small refinements to guide the author’s own revision.
Editing and rewriting are not the same.
I do accept rewriting projects, something others call book doctoring. In this sort of project, the author provides drafted content and I rewrite it, expand upon it, and improve it so it’s fit for public consumption. This gets invoiced at a higher rate than editing.
I also seek out writing projects. I ghostwrite fiction and nonfiction, but not the same kind of documents. For nonfiction, I’ll write blogs and articles. I conduct fast, laser-focused research to write with authority and intelligence on diverse topics. For fiction, just about anything goes, but I don’t write scripts or screenplays. There’s a bourgeoning industry of online, somehow interactive stories that run as strings of text messages. They’re primarily geared toward teens and young adults and are filled with hyperbole and melodrama. They’re not my style and I don’t do those either; I’m probably just too old or old fashioned for them.
When ghostwriting fiction—these are difficult-to-get projects, and I excel at those, too—I expand my repertoire beyond my normal fiction writing tendencies (romance, fantasy, westerns). I’ve worked on a fictionalized biography, young adult fantasy, mystery, and historical drama. A few have been screenplay-to-novel adaptations. These projects are great fun, and I’d love to get more of them.
As I edge closer to retirement, I also become more choosy in the projects I bid on and accept. The past decade has been instructive in teaching me what I do best and what I prefer most—and I tend to do my very best work when I work on what I prefer most. I don’t apply for everything that comes my way; I don’t accept everything either.
That’s the advantage of age and experience: I know what I do best and I’m happy to do it. I’m no longer exploring different career avenues because I’ve found my groove. It doesn’t mean I’m complacent or averse to learning new things or refining my skill, but it does mean that I bring enormous experience and sharp, spot-on instincts to every project I tackle.
And, really, isn’t that the benefit every grandmother brings?
Author
Hard boiled, scrambled, over easy, and sunny side up: eggs are the musings of Holly Bargo, the pseudonym for the author.
Follow
Karen (Holly)
Blog Swaps
Looking for a place to swap blogs? Holly Bargo at Hen House Publishing is happy to reciprocate Blog Swaps in 2019.
For more information: