"What we have here is a failure to communicate..."

I wrote a guest post for Bang2Write, a site run by the lovely Lucy V Hay. It reveals five reasons why writing commissions go awry, based on my experiences of hiring and firing writers - and being on hired and fired. Here's an excerpt about communication failure:

Sometimes when things go wrong, it’s not your fault. You did your best and still you couldn’t satisfy everyone above you in the creative food chain. Maybe the messages you needed weren’t getting through. Maybe those in charge were unable to communicate their creative vision. Maybe they didn’t have a clue what they were doing. Maybe they were the asshole and you were just getting defecated on. It happens.

Just because someone has a position of authority and control of a budget, that doesn’t mean they have a clue what they’re doing. They might be in the wrong job, they might have been promoted too soon or beyond the limit of their abilities. Sometimes you’re just roadkill on their journey to oblivion. So be it. If regime change happens when you’re in the middle of a job, hang on tight – the ride’s about to get bumpy.