Writing a book takes tremendous effort. Ernest Hemingway is often quoted as saying that to write all you need do is sit at a typewriter and bleed. According to Steve Paul, writing at The Hemingway Society website, there is no substantive evidence that Hemingway is the source of that quote. I think most of the authors I’ve worked with would say that writing a book takes time, thought, persistence, effort, and, in the end help.
I’m always a little embarrassed by some of the acknowledgements I have received for my work. I think developmental editing and ghostwriting are the most fun things to do—hardly work, although genuinely difficult. Usually by the end of a project, I feel a deep affection and fellowship with a book’s author. Some authors have become life-long friends. While I was working on the first edition of Kathy Schwalbe’s book, I was pregnant with twins, my second and third children. Kathy made beautiful, quilted pillow covers for each baby, and her mother knitted booties for them. I still treasure the pillows and booties. Don Gosselin has been like a brother to me over the years. And I owe my black belt in Taekwondo, in part, to Robin Wells, who I misheard as studying “force yoga;” Robin and I are about the same age, and I figured that if she could become a “force yoga” instructor, I could earn a black belt in Taekwondo. Of course, Robin was studying to become an instructor of Forrest Yoga, and I was experiencing a hearing issue.
More recently, I have been collaborating with Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn, a remarkable and energetic woman who grew up in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and is now CEO of the Internet of Things Talent Consortium. I have also been developing a very special philosophy book, but information about that and its author will have to wait until publication.