Author Archives: Garry Rodgers

Conversations With the Dead

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“To attain wisdom, you must converse with the dead.” ~Pythia at the Oracle of Delphi to Zeno of Citium

On the surface, that’s a strange statement. It’s downright weird and completely impossible if taken literally. But I don’t think the Pythia at the Oracle meant this as anything but a metaphor or aphorism. I think she simply advised Zeno to gain knowledge by reading the words of long-gone writers.

Zeno of Citium (334-262 BC) was the founder of stoic philosophy. A literate man of his time, Zeno was a Cypriot merchant who suffered a shipwreck, lost everything, and washed up on the Greek shores near Athens. He found his way to the Agora (market) and into a bookshop where he discovered the recordings of Socrates.

Zeno was deeply moved by Socratic logic and critical thinking skills. This led him to start a school of wisdom and teach his ideas to students in the Stoia Poikile (Painted Porch) in the center of the market. Zeno’s followers were called the Stoicoi, now known as Stoics.

One of Zeno’s fact-finding trips was to the Grecian city of Delphi on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. Here was the Temple of Apollo where the Pythia at the Oracle of Delphi—a revered and sacred high priestess—channeled messages from the gods to mortal humans. Ancient Greeks believed the Oracle, hosting the Pythia, was the very navel (omphalos) of the world and a spiritual axis through which mortals could consult the divine.

The Oracle’s historic visitors included kings, generals, and philosophers covering hundreds of years. Thought leaders from across the Mediterranean pilgrimaged to Delphi where the Pythia rambled trance-like riddles to be interpreted by the truth seekers. According to a National Geographic special, the Oracle was a rock fissure that emitted psychoactive vapors and that the Pythia was, in fact, quite stoned when she uttered inspirations.

Regardless of the truth of the trance, it’s well recorded that Zeno was at the Oracle of Delphi around 300 BC and received his cryptic message, “To attain wisdom, you must converse with the dead.”

There is profound wisdom in this message when you consider it objectively. Learning from those who’ve gone before us is a powerful life tool. Take the inscriptions (translated into English) in the architrave of the Temple of Apollo entrance:

“Know Thyself” — a call to self-knowledge and humility.

“Nothing in Excess” — a warning about hubris.

“Surety Brings Ruin” — a caution about overconfidence.

The Oracle of Delphi symbolized a truth that transcends time. Wisdom doesn’t come from answers alone. Wisdom arises from the questions we dare to ask and the honesty with which we face ourselves. Such as having conversations with the dead.

Personally, I’m thinking of two deceased men I can gain wisdom from. I have, but have never read, the memoirs of Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower that I inherited from my father. This post motivates me to dig in.

Kill Zoners — What books do you recommend we read that are wise conversations with the dead?

Why Self-Published Books Are Rarely Inside Bookstores

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Terry Whalin is a California-based writer and acquisitions editor with years of experience in his field. I follow Terry’s work and religiously read his periodic newsletter. Appreciatively, Terry is very supportive of my writing on the DyingWords.net blog as well as sharing Kill Zone posts on social media.

Recently, Terry Whalin published a short but highly informative piece on the difficulty of getting indie work introduced into bookstores. Terry’s insight rang home to me, so I contacted him and asked permission to share the article on the Kill Zone. He graciously agreed, and here are Terry’s thoughts.

Why Self-Published Books Are Rarely Inside Bookstores

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

I’m involved in a couple of online writing groups and no matter how many times you say it, there seems to be a broad misconception about self-published books. These books simply don’t appear in the brick-and-mortar bookstores.

Please don’t misunderstand me. These self-published books have their place in the market—particularly if you have a means to sell the books to individuals or companies. For example, if you speak often and would like to have a book to sell in the back of the room, you can easily get a self-published book to use in these situations. Just don’t expect to sell your book to bookstores.

Recently a well-meaning author celebrated his first printed book, which was self-published. He was holding it in his hand—always exciting. He was plotting a strategy to get his book in as many bookstores as possible and asking for help from other authors in the group. If you are going down this path, it shows a clear disconnect with the realities of the market.

Here’s a bit of what I told him. “Congratulations on your book release and I celebrate with you—but after more than thirty years in this business and over 60 books in print—and working as an acquisitions editor over the last twelve years—I am going to have to give you a bit of a reality check. You will struggle and find it almost impossible for brick-and-mortar bookstores to stock your self-published book. It’s one of those messages that the self-publishing places don’t tell you (they want to get your cash and get your book in their system).

“Yes, your book is listed on Amazon.com (easy for anyone to do) but getting it into the bookstores is a completely different story. I’ve been telling writers for years about the ease of getting a book printed—now getting it into the bookstores and ultimately into the hands of consumers, that’s a different story.

“Retailers dislike self-published books. Every retailer that I’ve talked with about this issue (and I’ve invested the time to talk with them) has countless stories about the difficulties of these books. They have re-stocking problems and problems with the quality of the products (typos, editing, etc.).

“Here’s the real test for you: go to your local bookstores and ask them if they are carrying any self-published title on their shelves. Go to the big box stores like Barnes & Noble or Books A Million as well as your mom and pop smaller independent bookstores. The answer will surprise you. I will be surprised if you find a single self-published among any of the thousands of books.”

“We can’t say it often enough—the bookstore market is a closed system—that deals with distributors and large and small publishers. It’s why we work hard to get our books into the traditional publishing marketplace. It’s why you go through the effort and hard work to create an excellent book proposal or book manuscript or novel, then sell that idea to a publisher. Then your book is available in any bookstore—and can have the possibility of sitting on those bookshelves.

“It’s a free country and you can feel free to expend the effort and energy to market to bookstores and try and place your book. From my experience and others, it will be frustrating and likely not sell many books. I believe your marketing efforts are better served in other markets (outside the bookstore).”

No matter what I write, several of you are going to take the leap into self-publishing. Here’s several action steps if you go this route:

  1. Work with an experienced editor to create an excellent book.
  2. Work with professional cover designers and people to format and produce a book where every detail looks like something from one of the big five traditional publishers. This means including elements like endorsements and words on the spine of the book (including a publishing logo on the bottom of that spine). Many self-published books are missing key elements which become striking signals they are self-published such as leaving off the barcode or doing this code improperly (without the price).
  3. Keep working consistently to grow your audience. As I’ve mentioned in the past, work daily on your platform and reach your audience. You need to try new avenues to market and sell your book.
  4. Continue to learn all you can about publishing. Get a free copy of my Book Proposals That Sell and study the publishing insights in this book.
  5. Never give up on your book. As the author, you have the greatest interest and passion for your book. This statement is true no matter whether you are traditionally published or self-published. Always be looking for new opportunities to write or speak about your book.

This last point is something I try and model with my own books. For example, I continue to promote and use the radio interviews I recorded for Billy Graham biography which has been in print for about ten years. Each author needs to be actively telling new readers about their books—whether they are carried in the bookstores or not.

Bio — W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. Also get the free 11th Publishing Myth chapter.

To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. As Jim Cox, Editor-in-Chief of Midwest Review wrote, “If you only have time to read one ‘how to’ guide to getting published, whether it be traditional publishing or self-publishing, Book Proposals That Sell is that one DIY instructional book.” Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Kill Zoners — What’s your experience as an indie trying to get your work into bookstores? Feel free to share. And thanks to Terry for sharing this piece. Hopefully he’ll drop by to engage in the comments!

The Unexpected Sells

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In the March/April 2025 issue of Writer’s Digest, there’s an interesting article titled The Unexpected Sells. The subtitle is Why Agents Want Genre-Defying Stories. It opens with, “In an industry built on tradition, the rise of genre-blending and trope-defying manuscripts is not just a trend but a potential goldmine for aspiring authors”.

There may be some truth to this statement. A year or so ago, I posted a piece on the Kill Zone called Slipstream — A unique, Hybrid Fiction Cross-Genre. It opened with “…I’m intentionally breaking all the rules.”

There was definitely some truth to that statement, but that’s okay as the film rights to my City Of Danger project are secured, and it’s moving toward production. Now it’s a matter of waiting till the delivery technology is in place. That might be two years away.

I moved from the true crime and crime fiction slots where I’d been working. Part of it was a urge to try something new, and part of it was a hunch not to play it safe and maybe, just maybe, reinvent the wheel. God knows I’d be a disaster in writing romance or erotica, but I went down a road filled with bumps of hardboiled & noir detective fiction, lumps of futuristic sci-fi, potholes of 1920s nostalgia, and a dangerous curve of time travelling thriller/suspense.

It was weird enough to catch, not the eye of a publishing agent, but the ear of a film producer. However, they have similar interests, and that’s finding new material they can sell – hopefully, safely. “Something different, but not to different,” are words I have heard. City Of Danger seems to have met the “different” test.

Writer’s Digest goes on to say, “Clearly defined genres have long dominated the publishing landscape, each catering to specific audiences. These days, a shift is underway. Readers now yearn for stories as intricate and multi-leveled as their lives—stories that refuse to be confined to a single category. This thirst for originality has paved the way for genre-defying narratives to shine.”

The WD article gives examples of recent successful stories that shun predictable formulas. These are authors and titles I’m not familiar with, but they’ve “balanced innovation and execution”. Helpfully, WD addresses the challenges of writing hybrid narratives and principles of positioning the work.

In closing, WD says, “It’s time to take the risks. The unexpected sells because it surprises, delights, and connects. So, dare to be different. Today’s market isn’t just ready for genre-defying stories—it’s hungry for them.”

Here are two shots of the article. You might be able to save them to a larger screen or you might want to buy the magazine if you already haven’t.

Kill Zoners — Thoughts?

Timeless Writing Advice from C.S. Lewis

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By all accounts, Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis was a writer’s writer. He was a British literary scholar who penned fiction and non-fiction along with many, many assorted pieces. Think Chronicles of Narnia (Lion, Witch, Wardrobe) and Miracles. When C.S. Lewis died in 1963, he was famous world-wide as a brilliant man and a decent one, too.

Recently, I was Facebook scrolling and an image popped up in my feed. It was a copy of short letter Lewis wrote on 14 December 1959 to a schoolgirl in America whose teacher contacted Lewis asking him to give writing advice to her student. Here’s the image:

I read this four times to let the simplicity, yet depth, of his words to sink in—the timeless writing advice from a true master. While several of his 1959 points are modified by sixty-six years of technological advances (replace radio with smartphone, but don’t dismiss the hushed computer keyboard as a clackity-clack mechanical typewriter).

The main points C.S. Lewis sets forth are eternal. Read decent stuff… filter crap. Avoid distraction. Use the ear. Evoke personal interest and imagination. Be clear. Bake the manuscript. Get in the zone; the flow. And know the meaning (or meanings) of every word you use.

Kill Zoners — What timeless writing advice can you give to today’s schoolgirl in America?

BTW, visit the S.S. Lewis official website for a complete catalog of his works.

AI For Fiction Writers — Opportunities and Challenges

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It seems you can’t turn anywhere these days without running into AI. Although the origins of mathematical artificial intelligence were fifty years past, it’s been the last two where AI has really taken hold in mainstream society. The biggest leap in amplified language skills came with ChatGPT in November 2022, and its evolution eversince has been mind-warping. That includes what AI can now do for fiction writers with both opportunities and challenges.

I’m not going to write an exposé or how-to post about fiction writers using AI for whatever purpose it might serve. That piece has best been done by K.M. (Katie) Weiland in an article she published the other day on her website Helping Writers Become Authors. It’s titled Exploring the Impact of AI on Fiction Writing: Opportunities and Challenges. I think Katie did a great job of covering this evolution, or revolution, we’re in. If you’re interested in reading this informative take, here’s the link.

Kil Zoners — What’s your view on AI for fiction writing or just using AI apps in general? Luv it? Meh? Hate it? Open mic.

The Two Types of Status

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When you’re developing a character, how much thought do you put into their status? If you’re like me, probably not a lot of concentrated effort. I have a good handle on their personality, looks, motives, dreams, fears, desires, insecurities, strengths, quirks, and smarts or stupids, but I don’t flesh out their status—at least not consciously. I tend to let that evolve or stand on its own.

I follow Sahil Bloom, a thought leader and motivator, who has significantly grown his audience in the past year. Sahil hosts a site called The Curiosity Chronicle and has a twice-weekly newsletter with some great content. On Tuesday, his subject was How to Play the Right Status Games citing the difference between “bought status” and “earned status”.

The status subject hit home to me about a recent decision. It was time to buy a replacement vehicle for our old Suzuki hatchback. I hinted to my wife, Rita, that we should splurge and finance a new Range Rover. That didn’t go over well.

“That is nothing but a status symbol. It’s like those leased Beamer SUVs Karens drive,” Rita said. “They’re for people who want to be seen. What? Do you want to start hanging around Starbucks, too?”

Rita made a point. We cash-purchased a low mileage, Kia four-door sedan and grabbed a McDonalds coffee for the ride home.

I flashed back to that Rover moment when I read Sahil’s column and felt it was worth a share on the Kill Zone. So, I sent him an email to which he quickly responded. With full attribution to Sahil Bloom and his kind republishing permission, here’s the piece.

How to Play the Right Status Games by Sahil Bloom

There are two types of status:

Bought Status is the improved social positioning garnered through acquired status symbols:

·         The expensive car, watch, handbag, or jewelry acquired for the sole purpose of showing others your financial wealth

·         The club membership that makes you a part of the scene

·         The private plane flight or boat trip taken more for the Instagram photo than for the utility

Bought Status is fleeting. It may improve your relative position, but only until the next level is unlocked and you’re right back at the bottom. It will keep you trying to enter what author C.S. Lewis famously referred to as the inner ring:

“As long as you are governed by that desire you will never get what you want. You are trying to peel an onion; if you succeed there will be nothing left.”

Earned Status, however, is the real respect, admiration, and trust received through hard-won treasures:

·         The freedom to choose how to spend your time (and whom to spend it with)

·         The healthy, loving relationships made possible by years of present energy

·         The purpose-imbued work and mastery within a domain, built through years of effort

·         The wisdom accumulated through decades of lived experience

·         The adaptable mind shaped through a steady mindfulness practice and thoughtful introspection

·         The strong, fit physique built through hours of movement and disciplined eating

·         The professional promotion or company sale achieved after an extended period of hard work in the dark

Earned Status is lasting.

It will elicit the durable respect, admiration, and trust that you seek from the people who matter to you, those whose opinions you value and cherish.

Earned Status is what we should all be after.

The Status Game Tests

Here are two simple tests you can use to assess the games you are playing:

The Bought-Status Test

Would I buy this thing if I could not show it to anyone or tell anyone about it?

If the answer to this question is NO, you’re playing a Bought Status Game.

Asking this question cuts through the noise to determine if the item itself provides happiness or utility, or if its sole purpose is to signal your success or achievement to others.

The Earned-Status Test

Could the richest person in the world acquire the thing I want by tomorrow?

If the answer to this question is NO, you’re playing an Earned Status Game.

The world’s richest people cannot build a loving relationship any faster than you. They cannot forge a healthy mind and body any faster than you. None of them can buy their way to expertise, wisdom, or purpose.

Playing the Right Games

Status games are a part of life.

They are critical for establishing your position in the relative hierarchies that govern your personal and professional worlds.

You will never escape them—you simply need to play the right ones.

Remember: In your work, relationships, and life, focus on what must be earned, not what can be bought.

*   *   *

Thanks to Sahil Bloom at The Curiosity Chronicle whose new book The Five Types of Wealth is about to be released.

Kill Zoners — How much attention do you pay to developing your characters’ status?

IKEA for Writers

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IKEA for writers? What could the international home furnishing chain possibly offer writers except for maybe an Utespelare desk, a Hattefjall chair, or a Roodflik lamp? Lots, it turns out, if you tap into the IKEA dictionary.

I think the quirky and almost unpronounceable (for an English-Canadian like me) names in the unofficial dictionary are a treasure trove of ideas for slipping foreign words here and there into your writing, whatever that may be; satire, mystery, humor, romance, fantasy/sci-fi, comedy, and even poetry.

What’s the IKEA dictionary you ask? Well, here’s the opening from the website Lar5.com/ikea/index/html:

Part of what makes IKEA unique is their product names. Each name means something, often in a funny or ambigious way. When IKEA went international, they decided to use the same Swedish names everywhere. This makes sense from an organizational sanity standpoint, but it deprives most of the world of this particular joy.

Until now!

IKEA product names fall into a few main groups.
❞ Proper Swedish words.
❞ Improper Swedish words. IKEA laughs at the ‘rules’ of human language!
☺☺ First names. Mostly Swedish, some Scandinavian, occasional exotic names.
✖Geographical names. Swedish, Danish, Norwegian or Finnish. Yes, there are patterns. Here is a map of all 320 places
★ A few names that defy categorization.
? Mystery names I haven’t figured out… Currently 130 out of 1362 names.

We’ll have some Sveedish fun with IKEA names in a moment and maybe build a 25-piece junk drawer starter set using only surplus IKEA specialized fasteners and their unique tools. First, let’s look at who this IKEA guy is.

IKEA is huge. There are 470 stores worldwide, employing 219,000 people, and having a 2023 income of over 51 billion USD. They are privately held so no market cap figure is known—possibly five times gross revenue. Maybe 250 billion?

Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA in 1943. He had a one-person business in Smaland, Sweden where he personally built practical and affordable home furnishings. As Kamprad grew and franchised his business, he retained control of the designs and the product names. It appears Kamprad had a good sense of humor. How about these IKEA product names:

Fartfull — Means “speedy” in Swedish and it’s a children’s workbench.

Jerker— Means nothing but it’s tagged on a line of desks.

Knappa — Means “button” and it’s fitting for a cardboard camera.

Duktig — Means “clever” and it’s appropriate for creative toys.

Hassleklocka — Means “witch hazel” and belongs on a floral duvet cover.

Let’s page through the IKEA dictionary and build some interesting combinations of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. How about this tray of Swedish meatballs?

Hessum. Agnaryd, Charmor. Ekarp. As in, “He was a hessum agnaryd with a charmor ekarp.”

Jubilar. Magasin. Orrlott. Ringum. As in, “She was always a jubilar magasin devoid of orlott ringum.”

Skribent. Ung. Vistofta. Pax. As in. “They are nothing more than skribent ung passing off as vistofa pax.”

You get the bild. (That’s Swedish for “picture”.) And if you’re wondering what IKEA means in Swedish. I dug this up:

IKEA is an acronym that stands for “Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd.” The name comes from the founder of the company, Ingvar Kamprad, who started IKEA in Sweden in 1943. “Elmtaryd” refers to the farm where he grew up, and “Agunnaryd” is the name of his hometown in Småland, southern Sweden. The name reflects the company’s roots in the Swedish countryside.

Kill Zoners — Plunge into the IKEA dictionary, haul out some words, and make a sentence. Go ahead and be kreativ.

Hallows Eve — Great Writing & Great Voice

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I’ve contributed to the Kill Zone for around three years now. It’s a unique publishing platform where a regular contributor has free rein—carte blanche—to submit whatever they please provided they keep it clean and refrain from sex, religion, or politics. That’s it. Pretty wide open to decency.

Generally, we stick to the theme of thriller writing or somewhere in that arena. But sometimes we exercise creativity and explore whatever we like and feel others reading the blog would be interested in, too. Kind of a win-win/writer-reader relationship.

As a creative writer (read that someone who loves making stuff up), I’m acutely aware of the terms “great writing” and “great voice”. Being subjective, I leave that evaluation on my stuff up to readers, however I’m entitled to pass great writing and great voice judgements on others.

Trust me. I’m going somewhere with this.

The other day, I was e-yakking with another Kill Zone contributor. Let’s call her Debbie Burke. Debbie said, “You’re up for a post on Halloween. Are you gonna write something spooky?”

I gave that some thought. What came to mind was the spookiest true crime case I ever heard of. In fact, it happened to me when I was a homicide detective. This guy hid in his ex-girlfriend’s attic for two and a half days with an ax. He crawled down at 3:00 am and chopped her and her new lover to death.

I wrote a book on it. You can download In The Attic for free on all the e-tailers. It’s my lead magnet for an 8-part, based-on-true-crime series.

But that spooky work has already been done. As I tumbled the idea about the polisher of my mind, an earworm crawled in and wouldn’t let go. It was the tune and some of the words to Hallows Eve written and sung by Rachelle (Elle) Cordova, aka Reina del Cid.

If you don’t know of this lady with the great writing and the great voice, then you need to get to know her. Elle and Toni Lundgren started out as a cover duet. Now with over 400 Youtubes made, Elle is creating original work. In my humble opinion, aka IMHO, the writing in Hallows Eve is only outperformed by Elle’s song delivery. Here are the lyrics and a link to watching her video:

Note: Full attribution is given to Rachelle Cordova for the lyrics and performance. There is absolutely no financial or other gain on my part for posting this.

Throughout the year

We shrink from our fear

Hide from our demons

Till the daylight appears

But on one hallowed night

When the moon is just right

We seek out the darkness

Welcome the fright

chorus

On this Hallows Eve

I’ll make friends with the ghosts

I’ll gather the monsters

And raise up a toast

A feast for the ages and I’ll be the host

So come one, come all this Halloween

Come one, come all this year

verse

I’ll start with the monster

From under my bed

Though we haven’t spoken

Since I was a kid

And I’ll tell him to bring all his scariest friends

The famous and the feared

Come one, come all this year

verse

We’ll fling the message far

To the goblins where they are

From the vampires in the East

To the garden of the Beast

chorus

Now it’s Halloween night

And the ghouls have arrived

The werewolves of London

The ghosts of Versailles

If you invite Jekyll you also get Hyde

The demented and the dear

But come one, come all this year

chorus

Godzilla is picking a fight with King-Kong

And Medusa and Hydra just don’t get along

It so happens the Kraken is gifted in song

And he sings them all to cheer

Come one, come all this year

verse

The bogles and banshees are briefly ensnared

By the Boogeyman’s pageant of cheap party scares

And Rochester’s wife is descending the stairs

“My god,” she says through tears

“I’m not alone this year!”

chorus

The Sirens play guitar

For the gargoyles at the bar

They pass the spirits round

As the Triffids hand them down

Quasimodo is only a ringer of bells

And the witches of Salem don’t know any spells

Boo Radley would gladly just keep to himself

So let’s pour them all a beer

Come one, come all this year

bridge

Bigfoot and Grendel though transcontinental

Are sharing a moment that’s quite sentimental

And the great chupacabra lights his candelabra

And dances ’till first morning light

outro

Daybreak arrives with the fading of ghosts

And Count Dracula is the last one to go

I bid him farewell and I hand him his coat

And with a wink he says, “My dear

We’ll meet again next year, don’t you fear

Come one, come all next year!”

Kill Zoners — What do you think? Hallows Eve – Great writing & great voice or what?

What the Book Industry Will Look Like a Decade from Now

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I follow a Substack hosted by Ted Gioia (pronounced Joy-yah). Ted is a thought leader who’s been around fifty working years. Primarily, he’s in the music industry as a performer, composer, and critic. However, Ted Gioia is an exceptional writer with an amazing ability to grasp complex subjects and clearly break them into comprehensible components.

A few days ago, Ted published a Substack article titled My 9 Predictions: What the Music Industry Will Look Like a Decade from Now. Here’s an infograph outlining his predictions.

I read his article several times, and it struck me the same thing goes with the book industry. It’s a close parallel, for sure. It got me thinking to take the infograph and substitute words. Replace:

Record labels and music companies with book publishers.

Artists and musicians with writers.

Music and playlists with books.

Music industry with book publisher.

Listeners with readers.

Live music with print books.

Come to think of it, these 9 predictions about books could have been made a decade ago and are realizing now.

Kill Zoners — Thoughts? Comments?

The Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective Writers

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I’m sure most folks are aware of the highly successful, self-help/motivational book titled The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change written by the late Stephen R. Covey. Certainly, most writers know the work because most writers are highly motivated, avid readers who want to be effective. At least we like to think we are. 🙂

Jane Friedman recently published an interesting guest post on her blog written by Joni B. Cole. It’s called The 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Writers: Powerful Lessons in Personal Sabotage. I felt Ms. Cole made seven great effective, ineffective writing points that (mis) aligned with Covey’s hit. I’m pleased to link it here.

In reviewing Stephen Covey’s original book, he isolated these points:

Habit 1 — Be proactive.

Habit 2 — Begin with the end in mind.

Habit 3 — Put first things first.

Habit 4 — Think win-win.

Habit 5 — Seek first to understand and then be understood.

Habit 6 — Synergize.

Habit 7 — Sharpen the saw.

In Joni Cole’s article, she points out mistakes that writers—emerging and seasoned—repeatedly make. That’s from being overly sensitive to feedback, not having a clear vision, procrastination, wasting time and energy, trying too hard to satisfy, not listening, being too self critical, and over-sharpening the saw.

To quote Cole, “While highly effective people seek a balanced program of self-improvement to renew their edge, highly ineffective writers are determined to make their saws so sharp they inevitably drive themselves right over the edge.”

Kill Zoners — Take a few minutes and read Joni B. Cole’s post on Jane Friedman’s site. Then drop back and leave a comment. Do you see a bit of yourself in this piece? I sure see myself in one spot.