Gobbledy-gook

Long ago, I can't remember exactly when, my editor at United Press International, upon reading one of my news stories, pronounced it as being gobbledly-gook. At the time, I had been at UPI for a couple of years and had written numerous stories but none had gotten such a harsh response from my editor. For years after that, my fellow UNIPressers in the Philadelphia office ribbed me, in a good naturally way, about writing gobbledly-gook.

I left UPI 15 years ago and while I am occasionally in contact with one or two of my former colleagues, I doubt that any remember the comment. And I doubt that former editor does.

The editor, whose name is Bob, just published a book. I haven't spoken to him, I'm sure, in probably 15 years. But when I learned -- from a former UNIPresser, no less -- that Bob had written and published a book, I immediately e-mailed him a congrats and got back a nice reply.

The non-fiction book, which was regionally published in the Philadelphia area by a small press, is about two legal cases. The former colleague who informed me of Bob's book said it wasn't very good. In other words, gobbledly-gook. And I could understand that. I always thought Bob was a much better editor than writer.

But I looked up the book and was able to read the first two chapters online and they really were quite good. The writing was clear and compelling, and drew the reader further into the book, which is as it should be. I plan to order the book through Amazon and have Bob autograph it the next time I am in Philly.

And as I said to the UNIPresser who told me about book, Bob is to be congratulated. Writing a book is very difficult; getting published is even more so. That is something to be celebrated.

Hopefully, Bob one day will get to read one of my published books. I have confidence in my writing, just as I did back then. And I'm sure he won't call it gobbledly-gook.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.