[LS] Even my writing is on fire: proofing the first, writing the second, calling for beta-readers..
No book burning here. Just grass in a pasture. One book is out for proofing and beta readers, as the second gets cobbled together and refined as I go.
Hi,
Proofing has started. Some beta-readers have downloaded (free download link for your also, below). My past week was tumultuous. Way more farm work than writing. (Sigh.)
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Farm News - Moving quickly from one paddock to the next, to keep them from grazing anything too short for too long. And a pet returned…
Writing News - Proofing is finding some great improvements to make. Need more beta-readers and their feedback.
Expectancy and Survival - The point is to find both humor and peace in all thins… especially “news”.
Farming News
The exciting events were two in one day - burning off a field and then going to a niece’s wedding.
We were burning some Miscanthus, a Japanese cane that grows about 12-foot high and burns 10 times hotter than wood. But is too tough to mow down without risking equipment. An exciting adventure. This was Saturday - the end of a busy week:
Friday-Sun - brought up and sorted cows/calves.
Mon - 1st year heifers to vet. Got an appointment to neuter steers on Friday.
Tues-Wed - sorted calves out, tagged the heifers born last year and released them.
Thurs - auction of the open heifer with 5 bull-calves. Got good prices. Heifer wound up with 9 of her relatives on a nearby farm. (Happy.)
2nd Friday - retained bull-calves made into steers and back to barn for watching.
Then Saturday - found by text that my miscanthus was going to be burned off by a farmer who wants to raise crops on it. This took almost all day, until I could finally get away, get cleaned up and go to a wedding. On the way home, we found out that our neighbor had called the rural volunteer fire department to put out a tiny bit that had escaped to his side. (Flashing lights and so on, discovered on my way home. Thought someone had died out there.)
Sunday - was more restful. Let the steers out with the rest of the herd. (I had them in the barn for a couple of days to make sure they weren’t still bleeding from the neutering cuts.)
Whew.
Got some writing in, but was still itching to get back to it - and a little more regular (quieter) work.
It’s has been too cold and a little too dry for the grass to really get going. So I have to move the cows quicker. And that means walking perimeter fences to make sure they are not holey, or crushed from old trees taking their final rest.
Oh - thanks to the wonder of WalMart+, I got a new phone and had it with me during the burning above. Still have to figure things out on using it - and saved the old one, since it sends videos from my network drive to my TV screen just fine…
As I said, I’m open to having unpaid interns come out to learn all this… except the burning grass stuff. (Just bring a ruggedized phone. Steak is on us.)
Tiny Home News
Our little friend, the kitten, didn’t show up for meals for several days during all of the above. And then, yesterday afternoon, he was back meowing to be fed.
Today, it was snuggles with one of the guard dogs, everything back as usual:
My wife gave him a (light) chewing out, saying he was too young to be “catting about”.
We’ve got a push-mower shipping in (it was on sale). And working out how to get our container gardening started this year.
Otherwise, the land and larger-home planning continues…
Writing News
Proofing and beta reading has begun in earnest. Slow work with such a big book. Several beta-reader have gotten their (free) downloads, and I’ve been chatting with a couple already. I had to create some beta-reader-guidelines:
And I’m still asking for more beta-readers. (But you’ll have to print your own copy to mark up from that free download until the paperback comes out.)
Here’s the link: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/WOS01-beta-readers
Find the oopsies. Leave comments, reviews. Ask questions. Be one of the first anywhere.
Between 250 and 300 pages, depending on format. Available are epub and PDF. No charge. (Free download, in other words.)
Nearly 20 years of writing-publishing-entrepreneuring - all rolled into a single book. And updated. Condensed.
Had a great idea today on re-building the course for this. That main one. There are already two other mini-courses which just have to be re-branded and so, repurposed. The main course will be an hour long, cut into 5 or 10 minute pieces, depending. And these will all show up in the original course link (more on that as these develop, obviously.)
Current Book Planning
The copywriting book is a bit of a monster. Not just its size, but the amount of work I have to do in order to mortar all the parts together solidly.
It is quite a breakthrough on it’s own. And that owes to the approach of working with a wider set of classic materials than have probably ever shown up in a single book.
But it is taking a bit of time to get everything just right. Still, it was interesting to find that there really haven’t been any forward advancements, other than Eugene Schwartz, since about 1952 with Victor O. Schwab’s bestseller, “How to Write a Good Advertisement”.
What we’re adding is this new approach that explains how some ads went viral - meaning were able to be used to generate sales for years, even decades sometimes, changing only slightly.
And this writing-publishing a form of learning on its own.
The rough copy is just over 340 pages right now, and will get even smaller as I whittle it down. But then, I have to go back and include material to explain later concepts, so the length changes day to day - but mostly gets smaller.
The breakthrough part specifically is where the material on how content goes viral is based on emotion-imbued stories. And W. S. Campbell has the whole story gig completely worked out, ever since 1938. So it’s evergreen copywriting principles since 1905, combined with Schwartz’ work in 1966, layered with the research from the books “Made to Stick: (2007) and “Contagious” (2016), side-checked with Joe Sugarman’s “Adweek Copywriting Handbook” (2006). All piled higher and deeper with the powerful Campbell tools on writing stories.
End result: a theory and method of how to write truly viral content. All based on actual studies and direct-sales tests.
Campbell wrote extensively on writers learning by distilling writing devices from others’ existing works. And this then updates Schwartz’ work on copywriting techniques. It’s getting quite exciting.
But still leaves me burning candles at both ends. Because that muse is burning brightly and gets me up early after keeping me up at night…
Expectancy and Survival
The great thing about the death of Mainstream Media News is in the rise of independent media. Meaning we can all get our own customized news just the way we like it. We can choose any slant we want.
Still, as I mentioned last issue, it also leaves us responsible for sorting facts from opinion and verifying that those facts are actual occurrences.
All in all, people are better off without two things in their lives - “news” and “social” media. Both are depressing and can’t be trusted in general. Keeping up with things is useful - as long as it doesn’t distract you from your goals.
We are also better off with daily exercise out in nature, eating as healthily as possible (the less processed, the better - and know your food sources.)
Last week, I dropped a mention about bio-engineered food. That and the super-processed ingredients are making us have “allergies” we’ve never had before. I found out that extra “gluten” has been added to flour to make fluffier baked goods. While grinding your own wheat flour (or eating outside the U.S.) has been often noted as a temporary “cure” for the gluten-intolerant. (Do your own research to verify that one.) Meaning, it comes back when your eating the stuff that passes for commercial bread around here.
A book along this line called “Wheat Belly” is interesting reading…
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I hope your life is not too interesting to be overwhelming, but sufficiently engaging to keep you amused. (Like some of us here...)
Robert
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