Writers and Editors

Mar 10, 2012 6:30 AM EST

I just rediscovered your blog and am really glad. Thanks so much for featuring this video! It is delightful and wise.

- Richard Gilbert

Mar 11, 2012 4:21 PM EDT

I could lose hours listening to those TED talks but this one particularly seemed worth mentioning.-- Pat

- Pat McNees

Feb 27, 2012 3:24 PM EST

More on the same subject:The Fact-Checker Versus the Fabulist (Gideon Lewis-Kraus, 2-21-12) and Writer vs. Fact-Checker: This Time, It’s Personal (The 6th Floor blog, Eavesdropping on the Times Magazine 2-22-12)D'Agata teaches nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa Creative Writing Program.

- PM

Mar 10, 2012 6:35 AM EST

I have written about this issue on my own blog, and, guiltily, less tolerantly than you. As you note, About a Mountain "blends his reporting and storytelling," and there's a lot of reporting, giving the impression that it is factual, and it mostly is. But he does weird things that are unnecessary in my view, as if to make a point. But I don't get the point, unfortunately. Maybe because I was a reporter. I am not a stickler, since his admitted composite characters and events in the service of good storytelling don't bother me. Some things do.

- Richard Gilbert

Mar 12, 2012 9:38 AM EDT

An interesting follow-up piece: What Do Fact-Checkers and Anesthesiologists Have in Common? (David Zweig, The Atlantic, 3-1-12). Understanding why some people choose professions where accomplishments go unheralded. Here's a sample: "IN A CULTURE that favors sensation, the fact checker is an anomaly, perhaps even anathema. He is the brakes on editors and writers racing toward deadline intent on dazzling readers at the expense of edifying them. He is the schoolmarm tsk tsking. He is the public defender for the unrepresented, the downtrodden, the forgotten—the facts." An excellent description of this important position follows, and more broadly is linked with other "Invisibles," who get public notice generally only when things go wrong: anesthesiologists ("they share the same fastidiousness, inner pride of their work, and joy of behind-the-scenes power"), piano tuners (imagine good concerts without them, but do they take a bow?), and graphic designers ("great design often shouldn't call attention to itself").

- Pat McNees

Jan 14, 2012 10:58 AM EST

Added to main entry 1-14-12: Songwriters and Authors Unite to Protect Termination Rights. Authors Guild reports (May 3, 2010): Unintended "Gap" in Copyright Law May Affect As Many As 100,000.A Second Bite of the Apple: A Guide to Terminating Transfers under Section 203 of the Copyright Act by Margo E. Crespin (PDF, Authors Guild)Copyright Termination is an Author Right: Use it or Lose it . Bad 1970s Style Romance With Your Publisher? Then, End it Now!How to Get Out of that Abusive Contractual Relationship (Lloyd J. Jassin, CopyLaw 8-16-11)Copyright Termination: How authors (and their heirs) can recapture their pre-1978 copyrights (attorney Lloyd J. Jassin, Copylaw.com If the Boss can recover his songs, you can recover your books (e-reads reminds authors that they can recapture copyright and make a better deal on eBooks than their publishers are likely to give them)

- PM

Jan 08, 2012 10:59 AM EST

Pat,what an amazing resource and gift you have provided for any writer wondering how to manifest their desires. No excuse now just roll up your sleeves and focus on the journey.

- Louie schwartzberg

Jan 08, 2012 1:38 PM EST

That's how I felt about your video, and I've had many friends on Facebook thank me for posting a link to it there, too.

- Pat McNees