I need deadlines
I recently wrapped up a project with a high profile client. I ghostwrote a book. I can’t say more than that on here but suffice to say this was one of the first projects that I have worked on that is going to be traditionally published. I have worked on plenty of other writing projects but none of this magnitude. Suffice to say it was a learning experience
There is a quote I have heard that means that the task will expand to fit the time you have allocated to it. With the book project, I have found this to be true. I am the sort of person that thrives on strict deadlines. I never really figured that out until this project. When I think about it though it makes perfect sense. Every time I have excelled the thing that I have excelled at had a strict deadline that forced me to get off my sorry ass and get it done. In college, I was in the honors program, and those Proffosers didn’t play around. I always managed even with all my actives to always meet a deadline AND to excel at it. I still wonder why I had such a hard time with my procrastination when I started freelancing and then a couple of months ago I was looking back I realized I had no hard deadlines and so I gave myself some super strict deadlines and you know what? I got the project DONE within the timeframe that I had given myself, AND the client was happy, and I was pleased with how it turned out. I am sure there are scientific reasons why this is so, but for now, I know to implement such crazy ass deadlines that will nip my procrastination in the bud before it even starts.
It will take far longer than you think it will
On the other hand, getting a book ready for traditional Publication is a shit ton of work. I mean there is your shitty first draft, the second draft, the third draft than the final draft that you submit to the agent. Then if the agent likes it, there are more revisions till it is in “sellable” condition. If you guessed that there are more revisions once a publishing house accepts it, you are correct. I now know that what we see as the final product is a far cry from what was written originally and it is a work of a team, not just the writer.
Your writing will suck on the first draft no matter how brilliant your friends think you are
Being born Deaf and growing up in a Deaf environment did not bode well for superior English skills. It is not a common thing among us that are prelingually Deaf unless we are born into a Deaf family or like me a determined mother who set out to prove the audiology wrong when he told her I would never be able to read or write well. In the deaf world, those of us that DO have mad English skills are considered to be a valuable resource if a Deaf person wants to start a business but lacks the proper English skills to write all of the advertisements and blogs and all of that stuff. We are also placed on a pedestal, so we tend to think out skills are better than they are. Especially on the first draft. I have come to realize that no matter what your first draft is going to be crap. No one should see what you wrote while you pantsed your draft. Not even the client.
My Mackbook pro is not all it is cracked up to be
This is going to sound heretical, but I used to be a fan of Apple. Then I came up with some funds and go myself a MacBook Pro, and I was smitten with it. I have done little and medium size projects on it and did not have any problems. Then I ghostwrote a book and guessed what? Grammarly will NOT work in any program on the Mac expect Chrome. This was a pain in the ass as the book was 70,000 words and The Grammarly Mac app AND the Grammarly online only checked 10,000 words at a time. Wait…WHAT!??! I have to cut and paste seven times. It was a clusterfuck of enormous proportions. I am not going to lie, and I did send the client the wrong file at first but thank God they were patient and understood,
The use of an app such as Freedom is a must
Ii will get hard, and you WILL be tempted to check Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. We only have so much willpower, and when it runs out, it could ruin what would otherwise be a good day’s work. I learned through a productivity coach that our brains get a dopamine hit every time we get a like or response on Social Media. That is what keeps us going after that elusive like. Working is hard. I will admit that writing becomes difficult when I am in the middle of a huge project, and there is no dopamine to be found in my head. This is why apps such as freedom were created. This app can block the internet, chat programs, and email on all of your devices. This was a Godsend when all I wanted was to check Instagram just one more time, but it was blocked, so I just kept on writing.
I also use and love Polymail but again.. GUESS WHAT ??? It turns out that Polymail does not play nice with macs share menu. Leading to the sending of wrong files.
There were times when I wanted to throw this damn computer of my 4th-floor balcony and get TOP of the line PC. I refrained from actually doing it but damn everything not playing nice with each other made for some embarrassing situations.
When All is said and done, I do love my MacBook Pro and the software I mentioned whatever their limits may be. I realize that all software is not going to be perfect all of the time. All work well enough to keep me using them. I have devised ways such as giving each file name a unique name to work around said limitations.
These are the lessons that I have learned so far when ghostwriting a book. I am sure with each project that I do, I will learn more lessons, and I am up for the challenge.
