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From: Jasper
Date: 10/17/03
Time: 2:10:23 AM
Remote Name: 68.73.53.4
Chan,
Killing the Goose… is as non-fiction as you can get. My last few years at Ford were the most horrible years of my life. They nearly killed me. Writing about the things that led me there is more difficult than you can imagine. I was badly crippled by the experience, physically and financially. I am barely hanging on but I am too pig-headed to quit.
The best thing big companies like Ford have going for their image is that their attacks on ”invisible” people like me are so outrageous that when you tell it like it is most people will shake their heads and label you a liar. I couldn’t even get my lawyer to believe me or to investigate what I told him until it was too late to get the evidence and witness on record and in front of a jury.
I could tell what he thought by what he didn’t do and when he didn’t do it. He thought: the company would do THAT to its best employees. It would be like killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.
I think I just wrote my back cover. Thanks Chan.
Most authors write within their comfort zones and the comfort zones of their readers. You can make a lot of money that way but you can’t learn anything. You can’t break through to a better understanding of who you are, what drives you and what drives the people you are writing about. I write to people who like to think – who I know are just as smart as I am or smarter. I try to write things that other people won’t write. The less comfortable I feel about a subject the more important I know it is to get in there and wrestle with it.
Obviously I was thrilled to read what you wrote about my writing. I do the best I can. Some people get it. Some people don’t. The fascinating thing to me is how few people realize that only part of good writing is on the page. The rest is in the eyes of the reader. Most people never even see what you write. They see the closest thing to what they want to see or expect to see and give you boos or kudos accordingly.
I don’t know what that says about you or me. Sure hope it’s good. –Jasper