I have a theory that film directors should never direct their own screenplays. Take Sofia Coppola – great director, and Lost in Translation is one of my favourite films. However, there were moments that I found to be, frankly, rather limp. Too bad, because they detracted from the great moments in the film, and that’s what most people remember when the leave the theatre: the bad moments.

When I watched the film with the director’s comments turned on, (another one of my nerdy indulgences), I realized that Ms. Coppola doesn’t think those moments were awkward at all. In fact, during the mini-documentary that accompanies the DVD, while filming those shots, she is smothering her laughter behind her hand, so that you can’t hear her on the soundtrack. It’s so amusing you think she’s going to have an attack of some sort.

What she saw was completely different than what her audience saw. Her crew was giggling along with her, probably because the crew was also very close to her and to the story – and still not objective enough. Like any good manager, she has hired people who believe in her project and who are an extension of herself, like your own employees and associates. But, I just didn’t get it.

Objectivity is not easy to come by. Which brings me to my point: the best reason to hire somebody like me is that I’m not you. An Editor is really there to do one thing: help the writer get their message heard. Whether it is a book, a film, an audio CD, a webcast, a blog, or whatever, it’s my job to take all of those messages and make sure that they can be heard by your intended audience.

Part of that job is to maintain a projected project schedule. Many authors that I have interviewed recently are complaining that their self-managed projects tend to get stalled at stage (7), which is the part where you write the bits that fill in around your main points. (See my June 29th blog for an example of what that means.) Or worse, the project doesn’t get off the ground because you are new to the process. Or even worse, you get the book printed, but can’t sell it. Using a templated process (ahem, like mine) allows you to follow a predictable pattern of tasks, know your costs before you start, and delegate accordingly.

Don’t lose heart if you have already hit that wall on your project – perhaps even before you’ve set out the door. Take an example from George Lucas – he worked with Spielberg for 3 films, who directed all three of his Indiana Jones scripts. How successful were they? They’re making a fourth one now – repeating a successful methodology over and over again. Think about that as you pen your first book – will there be a fourth?