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One day I was a preacher. The next, I was a ghost.

That could be the start of a pretty good tale. I guess, in one sense, it is. It’s my story. Or at least the start of a new chapter in my story. What will people think when I start to change all my online profiles, changing my career listing from Preacher to Ghost?

Dictionaries define ghost as an apparition, a disembodied spirit, something remarkable or startling. Yep, that about sums me up.

Of course, I’m not talking ghost in a paranormal sense, but in a literary sense. I. Am. Ghost.

You read my work. But you don’t know that it’s mine. And I like that. You ask me “Who have you written for?” I don’t tell. And I like that, too.

My method is simple. I view the authors I represent as characters in a novel. I observe. I draw up a character sketch. I build a continuity file. I intersect with them at a particular point of their story arch. And as I write, they speak. The best compliment I receive is when someone says, “I heard the author’s voice so clearly!” Yes you did! I know, because I spent months living inside of them, to capture every nuance of their passion, voice, tone and style. I’m now more the literary them than they are. Gotcha!

The reality that I’m out here should make you wonder with every book you read: Did the person named on the front cover, whose picture is on the back, whose bio is listed in the flap really write this? I’ll never tell.

I. Am. Ghost.

It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way. –Ernest Hemingway

My writer friends and I often talk about the tools we’ve discovered to actually help us put words on a page. Those tools range everything from hardware to software, pens to moleskine journals, settings to environments, snacks to libations. I’ve been singing the praises of a few of my writing tools here in a series of posts. You can revisit posts on hardware, software, references & resources, accouterments and some of my social media tools.

This installment of the tools that help my writing heart tick will be a little different. With this one I’m really going to promote a discipline more than things. Reading. People who are a lot smarter than me have said if you want to write you need to excel at reading. Lest you think I’m kidding:

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ― Stephen King

“Read everything–trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write.” ― William Faulkner

Think I’m kidding? Erasmus is considered one of the great human minds of all time. What did he think of reading? “When I get a little money, I buy books. If any is left, I buy food and clothes.” — Erasmus

Personally, I have tended to practice the Faulkner quote above. I woke up to the reality a few years back that the only books I was reading were those recommended to me because they would gel with my wiring and thinking. In other words, I’d find kinship with the author, the subject matter or story. I made an intentional change. I started reading different points of view, different styles and voices. I picked up some genres I’d never read before. And I believe my writing craft has grown for it.

I’d encourage you, make time in your day–every day–for some reading. Your writing will benefit.

In case you’re curious, here are a handful of titles I’ve read in the past twelve months (some of which I’d recommend, others which I would not!) to give you an idea of the diversity: Team of Rivals (Doris Kearns Goodwin), Platform (Michael Hyatt), Aesop’s Fables, Love is an Orientation (Andrew Marin), Off Magazine Street (Ronald Capps), Atlas of the Human Heart (Ariel Gore), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle).

What are you reading these days? What reading has fed your writing life recently?

Health Inspectors mandate that signs be posted in restaurant and grocery store restrooms reminding employees to wash their hands before returning to work. Misplace the sign, and the establishment will be fined. Misspell the sign, and, well … it becomes a job for Grammar Man!

The Case of There, Their, They’re Confusion.

There, there! It will be okay. I am a trained professional. As a trained professional, I’ve seen more than my share of there, their and they’re abuse. Would you look at that sign? Meant to enforce health standards, while at the same time numbing our culture’s literary senses at the same time. To the rules we go!

There is primarily used in our language to represent a place. Consider it in comparison to the word here. It’s either here, or it’s there. Now–steady yourself–there can be used as an adverb, a noun, a pronoun, an adjective and even as an interjection. There, there! But primarily–say it with me–there represents a place.

Their is a possessive pronoun. It is used to show possession, as in ‘who does this belong to?’ It’s theirs. Some grammar geeks recognize their as a possessive adjective where contrast is inherent in the sentence–this is our car; that is their car–because it stands in adjectival description. (And just so you know, moms and dads will light up with pride when their son or daughter uses the phrase stands in adjectival description in a sentence. Try it sometime.) A clue: if you can ask the question ‘whose ____?’ then their is your word. Too bad our sign maker didn’t ask that question. Whose hands? Employees? Oh–so THEIR hands. Voila!

They’re should be the easiest not to confuse. It’s a contraction. The apostrophe replacing the missing letter is a dead giveaway. They’re is short for they are. Only use they’re if you’d be able to say the same thing using they are. But–and here’s the real gem–be sure to use they’re if you’re meaning to convey they are. Most common of all the there, their, they’re confusion is for people to mean they are and mistakenly choose there or their. There coming for dinner. NO! Their on their way now. NO! They’re coming. They’re on their way.

Be vigilant about this, my dear friends, because spell-checker won’t be. It’s true. When you write a document and spell-check it, unless it has a grammar component to it, your spell-checker will fail to point out these misuses. If they’re spelled correctly, though they are there in your document, their particular grammatical usage may go unchecked. So there is no substitute for you knowing how to use there, their and they’re. Get it right. Make Grammar Man proud. And don’t eat in an establishment that gets the hand washing sign wrong. I mean, if the sign is wrong, how much confidence do you have in their ability to wash their hands?

What grammar gaffes have you spotted recently? Egads!

I’ve got a pet-peeve. I’m not alone. In fact, if you spend any time on social media I know this irritates you, too. I’m talking about those people who use social media for nothing more than promoting their business or product. They’ve seized the media part of social media. Hourly (or more) posts about their wares or ventures fill your feed.

Come to my pampered chef party … Only three spots left … Yes! Now we’re down to two … Hurry! Last chance … Demand is so high, we’re having a second party … Better get in on this one! … Want to pamper the chef in your life? … Pampered! … Chef! … Give me a ‘P’ … Give me an ‘A’ … 

And that’s all before noon. Be honest. You’ve grown weary of people for this reason. You’ve hidden people from your feeds for this reason.

Here’s a solid piece of advice for my writing friends who have a book or a book tour to promote: Embrace SOCIAL Media. Don’t be lured into the trap of seizing the media opportunity to pepper all your friends with your promotional materials. Instead, invest in the SOCIAL side of social media. Engage in dialogue. Comment. Reply. Like. Follow. And do so genuinely. Because it’s YOU your friends and followers want to connect with, not your sales campaign. Then, because they’ve found a real connection with you, your latest book or happening will be of interest to them. They might actually follow that link, or read that post, rather than blindly dismissing it.

In his book Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, Michael Hyatt shares his social media strategy using the equation 20 to 1. That’s twenty useful or meaningful interactive posts or tweets to every single push of a product or call to action. He’s posting things of value and connecting with friends and followers in meaningful ways, not simply leveraging his reach into their lives for his own benefit. (That’s a great book, by the way. Highly recommend it.)

Some people ask me ‘How do you make time for the social stuff?’ My reply is to ask, ‘How is it that you don’t?’ When you litter the tweet-o-sphere with your promo–do you expect people will spend their valuable time following your link? Give Michael Hyatt’s 20-1 strategy a try for a few weeks. You’ll see a difference–not only in people’s response, but also in your own appreciation for your friends, followers, audience and your niche.

Do you have any social media strategies to share? Other social media pitfalls to avoid? Social media tools that help you do what you do more effectively?