CURATION TIP FROM A MENTEE OF MINE— SEE WHAT YOU CAN WRITE ABOUT THAT IS TRENDING ON GOOGLE
Birthing a Curated Story as the Doula
Every story benefits from content editing
Introduction
I work with a few writers on editing their stories pre-submission to any publication of their choosing. Often this involves me being a quasi-translator — in other words, I look at their EFL text, figure out from the context what they were saying in their head, and fix their mistranslation to proper English.
If I spoke a foreign language and translated from scratch, I would get the “translated by” credit. However, for the content-enhancing-capacity by which I do contribute, perhaps I get a little special thanks at the bottom of the piece if the publication allows it, or if not, perhaps I get the ambiguous autogenerated thanks in the footer that any gatekeeper who left a private note on the piece gets for hitting publish.
Am I a ghostwriter?
See Thewriteyard’s, Ghost Writing. Smoke and Mirrors, Justifiable job opportunity or exploitation? I engaged with Thewriteyard in her story as follows:
Where does an editor who tells the writer what’s missing from the piece, suggests the answer, and then rewrites the writer’s stab at it, fit into this analysis?
Perhaps I am an unpaid ghostwriter. That’s ok with me, as the nachas I am experiencing this morning is priceless
Success!!!
Nachas is a Yiddish word meaning that you are happy and proud, especially of someone’s accomplishments.
Yesterday afternoon one of my writers texted me:
Hi Greg, Edvard Munch is trending now on Google and I would like to publish my text about him on Illumination curated. Can you help me? I will be online until I publish it. I want to test this “trending topics” strategy
Spoiler alert — the strategy works. In this instance, when combined with collaboration with a good editor.
I did my usual EFL to English translation. I also suggested a new title and a subtitle, the latter of which the draft did not contain. I revised my title suggestion based on feedback from the writer and we agreed. We had much back and forth on the subtitle because the writer did not grasp the extent to which his piece actually contributed to the topic. He felt he had not conducted an “investigation,” but merely stated some facts. I pointed out that he researched the topic in order to state his facts and thus he did conduct an investigation of the subject. Then I asked him to draw a conclusion for the article based upon the research he had presented. He drafted a theory, I edited it for grammar and substance, and two and a half hours after we started working together, we published:
I woke this morning to a text that the writer, Alexander Bird, had sent while I was sleeping away my upset over a personal matter that almost had me decline Alexander’s request. The text, less than 8 hours after we published, said:
I have good news. It seems we are going to be curated soon
That news did much to salve my upset, about which I will write soon.
“My” first curation
Nachas is the joy you feel over the achievements of someone close to you, because you’re so connected with that person, that it’s as if the accomplishment is yours. It’s often translated as pride, but it’s much more personal — an individual pleasure derived from someone else’s success.
I am crying. This is nachas. I’ve never been curated as a writer, and I am a damn good writer, but I am also a nonconformist, which does not bode well for curation. Fact is, as well as I write, I am a better editor. I am an excellent editor, which is far more than proofreading — I think about the piece and the message and the reception, not just grammar. I mentor my writers as well.
Midwives have medical training and during the birth process, focus on delivering a healthy baby. Doulas, on the other hand, focus on the needs of the mother, offering mental, physical, and emotional support. — Source
Hence, the title of this article.
For more on the value of editing and mentorship, you may read:
Interesting note on the curation. At the time Alexander sent me the note his story had 29 views, only 5 of which were internal. I hope this piece leads to more internal views so he can make some MPP bucks.
In Rama I create,
Marcus
