She Dresses Her Husband. You can tell. They usually wear similar colors and clothes types. What comes to mind when you hear that?
He's a wimp.
It's possible, but here are some other scenarios to consider:
- He's too busy to be bothered getting clothes ready.
- He's lazy
- He's color blind
- He's disabled and needs help
- He enjoys the attention
- He's demanding
- He likes feeling close to his wife and lets her do it
- She's the wimp
- She's clingy
- She likes to feel wanted. It makes her feel good.
You get the idea. There's more than one reason why a woman may put out clothes for her husband to wear.
Okay, lets get dicey. Here's another example. She self-publishes. What comes to mind when you hear that?
She can't get a good publisher.
Is that what you think? Here are some other scenarios:
- She likes to be in control/she wants to pick her own cover, style elements,etc.
- She's curious about what it takes
- She enjoys adventure
- She wants to get her book out in a decent amount of time
- She's not getting any younger
- She wants to do something different
- She understands the makings of a good book and feels confident she can pull it off
- She knows reliable editors she can trust with her novel
- She knows of a quality printing company with great distribution
- She wants a better return on her money since she's the one who wrote the book and will do most of the marketing
- She wants to feel the satisfaction of doing her best job.
By these examples, I hope I've opened your minds a bit. If not, I'll keep trying.
Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
Look for Killer Career by Morgan Mandel This August!
As always, comments are welcome.
17 comments:
As writers, we "know" what's going on in a character's head. But as real people, we don't know the total picture. It's easy to jump to a conclusion. It's less easy to open our minds and see other possibilities and viewpoints. But I do think more and more people are accepting the validity of e-books. It reminds me of a snowball rolling down the hill. It starts off small and slow, but gains in size and speed as it goes.
Helen
Straight From Hel
I'm not sure what e-books has to do with self-publishing, but I'm all for the open minded approach. I've written several books that are with an e-publisher, but they are certainly not "self published" because I had to submit them, have them approved (they reject about 96% of submissions), have it edited by one of their editors, etc. The process was no different from the print book I had published with another publisher.
I think it's kind of like bringing a cake to a dinner party. "I made it myself" could mean it might outshine a bakery cake, or it might be better suited for the trash bin.
But "self published" covers such a huge gamut of quality and connotes 'vanity press', so I think there's still a lot of prejudice to overcome.
(My husband is clueless about appropriate attire and always asks what he should wear before we go out together).
I think of the person sitting with arms folded and a less than happy look on his/her face. They must be angry, right? Better not approach them, or I might get yelled at or even beat up.
Well, turns out this individual is cold and in a pretty good mood, and could turn out to be one of the best friends one could ask for.
Stephen Tremp
www.stephentremp.blogspot.com
Good points on the self-published author. I'm traditionally published by a medium-sized company, but I'm familiar with the work of some meticulously-edited self-published authors with a good business plan and excellent marketing skills. I'll be featuring one of them on my blog in August and she'll tell us a little about her process.
She's in control- that's what springs to mind first. Now, what you could do with that.....
She could convince him to commit murder. Yes. I like that.
Good metaphor to illustrate a literary point. My wife used to dress me when we first got together because she felt I hadn't the first clue on how to assemble a "matching" attire/ensemble. :)
The Old Silly
I like that comparison!
I like it when people tend to jump to conclusions. In fact, I bank on it when I write stories. I let my titles describe what the story is about, yet most of the titles alse lead to other possible conclusions.
Excellent article. Having reviewed almost as many self-published books as those through small presses and NY publishing houses, I have to say I believe self-publishing gets a bad rap.
There are those that weren't ready to be published and really needed an editor; but I've read books that have been seen by several eyes and still have mistakes and inconsistencies in them.
I happily accept self-published books for review at The Book Connection, and I haven't totally discounted self-publishing my own work yet. We'll see what the future holds.
Cheryl
You nailed some of the reasons for the second statement!
And there's a couple at our church that always dress alike. He's not a wimp, he just knows she really enjoys selecting his clothes and matching, so he lets her do it. For them, it's a sign of their love!
L. Diane Wolfe
www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com
www.spunkonastick.net
www.thecircleoffriends.net
Well you know, her husband just might look good in a skirt and heels, although the push-up is a bit much.
Yours,
Randall Lang
www.randalllang.com
www.randalllang.blogspot.com
Diane,
That's what made me think of this post. We have a couple at our church that dresses alike. I can't imagine it's him that picks out the clothes. I always wondered what the story was.
Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://www.morganmandel.com
Morgan,
Great blog and I loved Randall's comment.
Margot Justes
www.mjustes.com
I'm a little late, but fantastic blog post, Morgan. If I can remember back to the wife/husband days, I think I remember mentally picking out what I wanted the hubby to wear and suggesting it when he went to get dressed, not actually laying it out for him and he usually went with what I suggested. He wasn't a wimp in the least...he was quite the opposite and wasn't fashion conscious and he didn't care what he wore, lol.
Excellent article both for writers and readers. Always good to be aware that without knowing everything our assumptions are just that. Thanks.
Love it Morgan! Self and e-pub'd books have both suffered from bad press in the recent past, but both are coming into their own. I like the picture of the snowball growing as it rolls down that hill.
Charlotte Phillips
Thanks for opening some eyes, Morgan! Great blog ~
DL Larson
Post a Comment