skills Developments

As a columnist you have to suffer the slings and arrows of attacks from outrageous bloggers. ‘Nervously_waiting’ has accused me of being a tad obsessive about maintaining authority over my writing. I’ll be absolutely up-front, in this aspect of my life I’m a fully paid-up, 100%, anally retentive control freak. But pray dear reader consider the following mitigating circumstances that have contributed towards this horrendous affliction:

• Most articles or book proposals disappear into the ether without even a cursory ‘thanks, but no thanks’
• You get a standard rejection letter that prompts the reaction, ‘have they actually read it?’
• They print your article as a “letter” ie, you don’t get paid for it
• Some faceless editor hacks it to bits and leaves out key phrases and ideas
• They take ages to pay up and only respond to a threatening letter
• You get a gushing reply, “super, wonderful piece, must include it”, you wait, and wait… and wait, finally in response they admit they can’t remember the piece anyway
• Then there’s the magazine that will remain nameless, that printed an excerpt, used my real name and didn’t even mention How Not To Teach…