If you have Zen or Buddhist inclinations—and you’re also in the profession of writing and publishing—you will love this story and meditation by Gillian Burnes. It begins:
In the middle of a Vipassana meditation retreat last summer … I went up to the teacher at the end of the dharma talk and said, as sweetly as I could, “Editors are usually really nice people.” He’d been using “editor” to stand for the harsh inner voice of self-loathing, and of course I understood what he meant, but as a magazine copy editor I had to stand up for my professional brotherhood.
Burnes goes on to discuss the difference between generation mode and analysis mode. Read the full piece in the latest Glimmer Train bulletin.
Also check out:
- Poking the Tiger: Thoughts on Characterization and Story-Building by Dennis Bock
- What We Settle For by Tracy Guzeman
- The Dialogue Zone: When Characters Take Over by Tom Kealey
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
