RE: New list member

**"Jeff Ball" j*@starband.net**

Welcome to the list and G'Day back at ya.  
I see you are a permaculture consultant.  Back in my homesteading days
in the 70's and 80's permaculture ideas were floating around the U.S.
but very few took hold.  I hardly see a reference to permaculture
anymore.  Is it alive and well in Australia where I know it was
developed by Bill Tollison?

About getting started writing a book.  A large number of the members of
this list have written at least one book, and there are a few that have
written dozens.  So you need to understand I am taking a very large risk
here giving advice in front of this crowd (grin).

When I wrote my first book for Rodale Press, they wanted three chapters
before they would offer me a contract, which seemed fair enough.  I
believe that the book's outline is a major step.  If you can develop a
succinct outline that clearly offers an interesting story and follows a
logical path, you have taken an important step.  So show your outline to
eveyone you know.  I would say that for me the most important resource I
needed to be successful was a personal editor who worked the material
over before it went to the publisher's editor.  I was fortunate to be
married at that time to a high school English teacher who was, and is, a
terrific editor.  Having corrected thousands of essays, she could go
through my chapters with the red ink just flowing freely.  Several other
authors I know have found someone to be that personal editor.  If you
can, it is a great help.  My only other advice at this stage is to avoid
fighting with the publisher's editor over technical details.  Many
writers, especially new writers, consider every word they have written
to be sacrosanct and not to be touched.  My philosophy was that a good
editor will make my book a better book as long as he or she does not
mess with my story.  They can tighten my sentences, shift my paragraphs,
but they can't change what it is I am trying to communicate.  I got
along with all of my editors because they made my writing clearer and
more effective without changing my message.  

Write your outline, do one or two chapters, and go find a publisher and
make sure we all get review copies (grin).

Good luck

Jeff Ball

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