I especially love Curtis' cute and clever metaphor for a manuscript well-vetted with yellow post-its: "On each of these mini-memos a question has been raised, and there are so many sticking out of the manuscript it looks like a forsythia in bloom."
"the late great Senator Clemenceau Osterdonk. Osterdonk was allegedly a pederast, a sadomasochist, a drunk, a coke-head, an arsonist, a stock manipulator, a stalker, an influence peddler, an ax murderer, and an embezzler with dandruff, bad breath and athlete’s foot—your typical politician, in other words." Made me snort!
"a pederast, a sadomasochist, a drunk, a coke-head, an arsonist, a stock manipulator, a stalker, an influence peddler, an ax murderer, and an embezzler with dandruff, bad breath and athlete’s foot..." I think I may have dated this guy for ten minutes back in 1988. Oh, wait.. No. Mine was named Donkoster. Couldn't be. And, by the way, I loved the "forsythia in bloom," too. I'm dying to know -- did you just pull that one out of the air, or did you wrestle with it for a day or two? Yellow Foxtail? No, overly bristly. Oxtongue? Nope, invasive. American Dagger Moth Caterpillar? Naw, moderately dangerous. Then, you glanced across to the opposite wall and saw one of your beautiful watercolors. Oh, oh! I got it...a forsythia in bloom! Ah-h-h.
Thank you, dear Sonja. The description of a politician I got from real life. The forsythia? My crosstown bus to Lincoln Center passes through a grove of forsythia - besides crocuses it's the first flower of springtime (it should show up late February) and makes me happy to know spring will soon arrive.
Really strong piece on how legal review shapes the whole publishing ecosytem. Your point about attorneys needing to balance protection with keeping books readable is underappreciated since thats the invisible hand determining what stories get told. I once worked with a fact checker who basically made an entire chapter unreadable, and the pushback from the editor showed me how those negotiations actually work.
-With my book ASSASSINATION GENERATION (title suggested by Richard's wife, "World Heavyweight Champion Book Title Dreamer-Upper") the publisher had a lawyer go thru it. A bit like this, but a discussion on the phone. It was not that big of a deal in the end. "Okay." "Sure, can change that." "Okay, no big problem."
-Ultimately none of the changes really mattered. We got the book out, still selling well. It's the only place where most of this info is available.
-Like the video game industry fighting all the way to the Supreme Court to overthrow CA law. Conning 7-out-of- 9 old men (who never played "Pong" in their lives) so the industry can sell any game to any child at any age. One of many factoids the industry really wants shoved back down the Memory Hole.
-The funny part was when I had to assure the lawyer, that Stephen Vincent Benet was long dead and his works were, indeed, public domain.
This is terrific—smart, funny, and dead-on. Richard’s forsythia metaphor made me smile as well.
I especially love Curtis' cute and clever metaphor for a manuscript well-vetted with yellow post-its: "On each of these mini-memos a question has been raised, and there are so many sticking out of the manuscript it looks like a forsythia in bloom."
"the late great Senator Clemenceau Osterdonk. Osterdonk was allegedly a pederast, a sadomasochist, a drunk, a coke-head, an arsonist, a stock manipulator, a stalker, an influence peddler, an ax murderer, and an embezzler with dandruff, bad breath and athlete’s foot—your typical politician, in other words." Made me snort!
"a pederast, a sadomasochist, a drunk, a coke-head, an arsonist, a stock manipulator, a stalker, an influence peddler, an ax murderer, and an embezzler with dandruff, bad breath and athlete’s foot..." I think I may have dated this guy for ten minutes back in 1988. Oh, wait.. No. Mine was named Donkoster. Couldn't be. And, by the way, I loved the "forsythia in bloom," too. I'm dying to know -- did you just pull that one out of the air, or did you wrestle with it for a day or two? Yellow Foxtail? No, overly bristly. Oxtongue? Nope, invasive. American Dagger Moth Caterpillar? Naw, moderately dangerous. Then, you glanced across to the opposite wall and saw one of your beautiful watercolors. Oh, oh! I got it...a forsythia in bloom! Ah-h-h.
Thank you, dear Sonja. The description of a politician I got from real life. The forsythia? My crosstown bus to Lincoln Center passes through a grove of forsythia - besides crocuses it's the first flower of springtime (it should show up late February) and makes me happy to know spring will soon arrive.
Really strong piece on how legal review shapes the whole publishing ecosytem. Your point about attorneys needing to balance protection with keeping books readable is underappreciated since thats the invisible hand determining what stories get told. I once worked with a fact checker who basically made an entire chapter unreadable, and the pushback from the editor showed me how those negotiations actually work.
Thank you so much.
Noted! Thanks, Richard.
-With my book ASSASSINATION GENERATION (title suggested by Richard's wife, "World Heavyweight Champion Book Title Dreamer-Upper") the publisher had a lawyer go thru it. A bit like this, but a discussion on the phone. It was not that big of a deal in the end. "Okay." "Sure, can change that." "Okay, no big problem."
-Ultimately none of the changes really mattered. We got the book out, still selling well. It's the only place where most of this info is available.
-Like the video game industry fighting all the way to the Supreme Court to overthrow CA law. Conning 7-out-of- 9 old men (who never played "Pong" in their lives) so the industry can sell any game to any child at any age. One of many factoids the industry really wants shoved back down the Memory Hole.
-The funny part was when I had to assure the lawyer, that Stephen Vincent Benet was long dead and his works were, indeed, public domain.