Continuing to pack for the move, well, at this stage, mostly throwing out crap, I came across the proposal for The Forest for the Trees.

It was  sold with the title:

NO BAD WRITERS: An Editor’s Handbook for Procrastinators, Self-Flagellators, Manquees, Masochists, Imposters, and Dreamers — In Other Words, Writers of all Kinds — With Some Tips About the Writing Life and Getting Published.

Moving right along.

I originally got the idea for the book when, as a young assistant editor,  I had to write a tip sheet (basically all the relevant information about a book boiled down to one page that pulishers use for their pre-publication meetings. It usually includes a keynote about the book, comparison titles, ISBN, sales track, brief description or key points, blurbs, etc.) for a dog training book called No Bad Dogs.

The author Barbara Woodhouse believed there were no bad dogs, only bad owners. She got into the psychology of dogs and she had chapters with names like: Nervous Dogs, Dogs with Phobias, Dirty Dogs, Living with Mentally Unstable Dogs, and Dogs that Hate Men or Women.

Though I didn’t write the proposal for another ten years, that’s where I got the idea to write about writers’ personalities.

Filed under: Publishing, Writing |