Ask the Book Doctor
The Long Arm of the Writer
September 1, 2009
As a businessperson and author it’s important to keep up with where your name appears and who is publishing your work with or without your permission. In addition, I jump on a magic carpet and take a glorious ego trip every time I research my name and see how many places it appears on the Internet.I had gotten lazy, though. For years I relied on Google as my search engine. It worked, so despite all the commercials for Bing I kept seeing on TV, why switch? Today, though, I decided to try Bing. Yes, I googled myself on Bing, an oxymoron at its best.
Here’s the interesting part: Bing brought up things I had never seen on Google. It even brought up cached pages that no longer existed, so I could see what was said in the past. Best of all, it brought up the fact that my book, Write In Style, sits on the shelf of the library of the College of Management for Mahidol University. What is Mahidol University? I wondered the same thing, so I looked it up. It’s a college in Thailand, folks! My book is available to college students reading and writing in English in a college of management in Thailand. I cannot even describe the joy I feel at this moment, because when I wrote that book, my hope was to get my tips and techniques into the hands of as many writers as possible. I wanted to teach them my super-fast way to find and destroy artery-clogging phrases in their manuscripts so their writing grew more stylish and direct. I hoped to make a little money, of course, but my mission was to teach and spread the word about how to make writing unique, stylish, and clear.
In addition to America, I’ve found my book mentioned on sites based in India, Australia, Canada, and now Thailand. I feel fulfilled and validated. My arm has reached out around the world, and I have hugged and helped writers all over the globe. What a great life, this life of a writer!