Wow. It’s taken me somewhere around seven minutes to get to this page from my home page. In Internet time, that’s an eternity. The gremlins at Verizon must be on strike – our snails Esmerelda and Dave move around the fish tank faster than this.
Other than the obvious issues we’ll be having with Internet speed this morning, progress is definitely being made elsewhere. I managed to transcribe one interview of four and my writer and I coordinated pretty well on that large, unwieldy project. I knew we would. I trust her implicitly.
If I’d tossed this project to anyone else beyond the two trusted people who have worked on it so far (and one or two others who haven’t), I’d be sweating. I know these gals. I know their work and I know their personalities. One I’ve worked with in the past and she not only takes direction, she gets it completely and sees the end in the big picture. Amen, for I have been so careful to make sure I give proper instruction, and I’m never sure my communication is up to snuff.
You have to trust your writer posse. But that doesn’t mean they earn trust just for being a writer. Choose carefully those who will work with you or for you, friends. Back in the day, I chose a writer who needed a hand. I gave her an assignment for an article. She never delivered. In fact, she never wrote back to tell me the subject was above her. I contacted her wondering where it was. That’s when I found out. Lesson – if an untested-by-you writer needs a hand, give them links to other work sites. Don’t hand them something that could sink you should they fail.
I can’t blame her entirely. I came from a world of one-sentence instructions. Because I understood them, I may have assumed she did, too. When she didn’t ask follow-ups, I figured I was right.
So we have two things to worry about here – finding a writer to help during the very busy times and being able to set up the project so that you don’t chase them away with your lack of organization. I have the first one down. The second – I’m working on it.
What about you? Have you had success/failure working with other writers? And how have you been at giving instruction and a big enough picture?
Wow, lori, I have had a very similar experience. I know I need to creat a posse of good writers I can turn to as well and have gotten some good advice going forward.
I think I am pretty clear in giving instructions, but I should need to examine that a bit more closely to be sure.
Love working with others, and the co-authored book projects (working via email with 4 other writers!) was a hoot. I’m pretty good at sharing instructions and thoughts (aka Yapping), so no problem there. I’m a people person with lots of contacts, so finding “help” or others to work with is never a problem.
I haven’t been on either end of that table as a writer. I’d be worried to job in to another writer unless it was a topic I knew inside out, because my main concern would be letting down the person who trusted me.
And, somehow, I haven’t been in the position where I felt I had to job in anyone — I’ve made referrals if I thought someone else was better for the project, but I haven’t jobbed anything out — I don’t really want to act as an intermediary.
As a production manager, I’ve delegated/assigned/set up projects for people. I try to explain clearly, give written instructions, and encourage questions. Most of the time, I’ve had good luck.