Essential

Quality of execution is everything. In graphic design, this is so easy to see. I always consider a piece, big or small, done when there is nothing left to take away. You've eliminated the non-essential and the superfluous. All you have is what you need exactly for that piece.

There's a precision and a beauty to that. There's also respect for your audience. You respect their intelligence and their abilities. You don't waste their time. You get to the core.

When I was a student in Prague many years ago, we worked in both studio and live sets. The whole reason I went to school there was to film on location and learn in a hands-on environment. It's really the only way to learn anything production-oriented. You got to dive in and get your feet wet.

We learned about lighting in the classroom and then in a brightly lit studio setting. I lingered after class one day when we met in the production studio and got to know the lighting director, Miroslav. He was terrific to work with and learn from. He was also very kind to me, answering all my questions thoughtfully. I started meeting with him regularly. Over the course of the next three months during my stay in Prague, he taught me an insane amount about gels and lighting. We had a lot of fun with it, experimenting. 

One of the things I suggested the first time we hung out was to start out in complete darkness on set and add one lighting element at a time. Miroslav laughed and said that was a great idea. He understood immediately what I wanted to achieve. For me, it was terrific because I could really learn how lighting affected a set and a scene. In a way, it's the exact same concept that we have in design - keeping just the essential - applied in a different way.

When it comes to books, I find it also helpful to strip away the non-essential. I've grown up reading voluminous classics like Victor Hugo's Les Misérables where longer descriptions are necessary.

However, I also know the value in a succinct line. In fact, it takes thoughtfulness and great care to craft sentences that convey your intended meaning in the fewest words possible. It's more powerful and compelling that way. That's part of my approach to editing itself. I read a while ago that Nicholas Sparks, the author of The Notebook, did exactly that, trimming his first manuscript down to 30,000 words before submission. It inspires me today. : D

Writing a book

In my mind's eye, I had already written a book, if not several. The stories write themselves. You start along a line and before you know it, it's taking on a life of its own - fleshed out with characters, emotions, places, and journeys...

After starting Elf, I worked on a lot of books for clients as an editor and also as a writer. As of 2014, I have edited over 150 books for three different publishing houses. I have also now written 14 books for clients - ten business books (100 to 150 pages) and four fiction books (250 pages each). These were all ghostwritten. The clients had a keen interest in the topics themselves. For the business books, I worked directly with CEOs or presidents of the companies involved. They had plentiful experience in the work they did. Writing a book was the next step in sharing their knowledge with their audience.

The fiction books I worked on were also in a similar vein. The clients had a strong passion for the subject. Of these four books, I found working on the Alfred Vanderbilt book (historical fiction) to be the most compelling endeavor. I enjoyed writing and researching that story for the Vanderbilt Museum in 2007-9. Alfred Vanderbilt Jr., heir to the Vanderbilt railroad fortune, sacrificed his own life to rescue women and children off the sinking Lusitania, in 1918. He also had a deep love for Arabian grays - fantastic thoroughbreds. I love history and historical fiction is a natural transition. As a kid, I grew up riding old racehorses. They were "old" in the racing world at three or four years of age but still so young when they were sent off to private homes and farms. Alfred's personal story is interwoven with historical events ranging from developments of the Vanderbilt railroad to the sinking of the Lusitania. I enjoyed writing the story for all these reasons.

These experiences have helped me hone my craft as a writer. I have worked within specified schedules, client expectations, and varying budgets. I have also collaborated with a lot of interesting people from varied backgrounds at the top of their fields. It has been a very interesting experience and I am thankful for it.

Now we will be working with clients in a different capacity at Elf — teaching via workshops and webinars. This is geared towards our business clients who write for specific audiences. It's an exciting time to be publishing your own works.

Coming back full circle to my own book writing, I have decided to write my own book as I was so confident of doing at the age of four. The Stowaway is that story. It's a fantasy and delving deeper into the imagination. It's also a story that has taken some time to manifest but I am happy to be working on it.