Signed, sealed, and delivered

I look over the contract for the hundredth time. I’ve signed a few contracts in my day. There were the loans for college. I signed contracts to pay for various cars and for the mortgage on my house. Even with that experience, though, I can’t help but feel like I’m signing my life away.

This one’s different than all those others. Yet, I still feel the enormity of its words. They’re just as powerful.

Sealing the deal

It’s a reader-writer contract. It’s an understanding of what I as the writer promise to do and where the reader comes in. I promise to try to weave an engaging, entertaining story focusing on Genre, Plot, Character, Style, and Point of View. The reader agrees to suspend disbelief and go on a journey. They agree to get in the car or train and see where my story takes them.

They can get off the band wagon any time they want. I promise though to try to make the ride a fun and entertaining one.

I look through each section. The readers section is simple and straightforward. Three simple bullets:

  • They agree to read as much as they want. (Hopefully they will want to read more.)
  • They agree to go along and immerse themselves in the story. 
  • They agree to not plagiarize my work. And if they do cite my work, they agree to give me the appropriate credit.

The fine details

My writer section gets into the details. Here’s the real meat of the contract. There’s six different sections in large bold face. There’s the Offer, the Acceptance, Considerations, Legally Parties, Terms of the Contract, and Legality of Purpose. My eyes glaze over, but I shake my head to keep my focus on the ball.

  • I promise to write with emotion and integrity. To be authentic. To strive to entertain and inform and provide a fulfilling experience. 
  • I promise to do my best to write clearly and effectively with proper punctuation and grammar, avoiding ambiguity and wasted time. Here’s a controversial subhead: I promise to use the Oxford comma and keep my em-dashes and semicolons to a minimum.
  • I promise to respect the reader’s intelligence and understanding. 
  • I promise to be truthful, to not plagiarize from others, and tell “my emotional truth,” wherever that may take me.
  • I promise to pay attention and to give my best effort to never confuse your versus you’re and there, they’re versus their. I may mess up in a lot of areas, but I never want to miss one of these.

I sign my John Hancock and wonder to myself: Oh, what have I signed up for?

What have I missed in my writer-reader contract? What would you add?

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32 thoughts on “Signed, sealed, and delivered”

    1. Yes, yes, that’s a good one LA. I think writers struggle with this one. I saw this recently with a book I was reading. It was based in the 70s and you could tell the writer was younger. They made it seem like pay phones were everywhere. Now they were definitely prevalent in public places . . . but you could tell the writer came from a cell phone always available – always at your beck and call mindset. Ha, ha.

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  2. Right now I feel like I’m in rut. Most of my posts have related to the grieving process. It’s good to change things up from time to time. Look at what you’ve done in the past to create interest. What do you have to offer = humor, advice, provoking thought, making a point. We need to find our niche. I guess at the moment my niche is still rather empty.

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    1. I hear you Kathy. So most of your pieces have some element of grieving? I’m not sure I see anything wrong with that. That’s fine. That’s where you’re at. I think readers can relate to that. I would be more worried about your writing, if everything was a forced positivity message. As long as someone is authentic in their writing, I don’t think it gets boring or trite. I only get bored with certain writers, when you can start to see that the writer is faking it or forcing something they’re really not feeling. It shows through in the writing. What’s the Ecclesiastes verse: “To everything there is a season….” 😎😎😎😎

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      3. I will keep writing. I’ve had this blog for more than 12 years. It keeps me connected to the word as well as giving me to share the good news with others. I will continue until I go to heaven. Thanks for reading. I love your posts.

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  3. This might be a reflection of the head space I’m in with editing, but I wonder about formative feedback from trusted readers and how that might factor into the WIP and the relationship between reader and writer. Not only with the finished product but participating in the journey. Does that make sense? Love your deep thinking because I see a motivational thread. Good stuff, Brian! 🥰

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    1. I might not be the best one to ask about beta reader feedback on a work in progress. I’ve worked with great editors and developmental editors, but I haven’t sent my work around to a lot of beta readers in the past. I think that feedback is incredibly important, but it’s still your work. I would take the feedback that makes sense and let go of other feedback that you may not feel as strongly about. Does that make sense? The end of the day, you need to feel good with what you’re sending out to be published. Thanks for the great discussion Vicki!

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    1. I’m no expert, but I think the way you find your way back . . . is to simply keep writing and to listen less to your thoughts and mind and write more about what you’re feeling in your heart. It can be scary. But in the end, so rewarding. At least, that’s my two cents. 😎😎😎😎

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  5. Oh, this is so good! Respect the reader’s intelligence and understanding – and avoid ambiguity and wasted time. That’s so well said! You are delivering on time and right on the money!

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  8. The writer-reader relationship is a wonderful and sacred one and your contract captures many of the considerations so thoughtfully. You won me over with the Oxford comma!

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    1. Oh so sacred. And yes, I don’t go too crazy over other writer’s misspellings or grammar errors. It’s life. It happens. But missing Oxford commas and the confusion it creates in my head — really does bother me. Ha ha, hence I try to use it! 🤣🤣🤣😎😎

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  9. you do write from the heart, I caught on to that early on, (and not just from the name of your blog). it shines through. you are honest and respect your readers, and as a reader, I appreciate all of that.

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  11. Writers aren’t perfect, nor should they be. I mean after all, we’re human. We’re trying to tell a story and maybe, perhaps, influence someone else to be better and do better. I think the contract is we share and we read and we reflect and we grow. It’s a circle, good writers are also good readers, too. Keep making your days count.

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  12. I love your thoughts, Brian, and this one resonated:

    I promise to be truthful, to not plagiarize from others, and tell “my emotional truth,” wherever that may take me.

    I’m going to keep this to read through again. Very helpful. Thank you! 😊

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    1. I think emotional truth is being honest with your feeling. I’m sure writing about copper wasn’t on your initial lists of things to do … but I’m guessing it felt right the more you let yourself explore those feelings! Thanks Lauren!!!😎😎😎

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