I'm a writing coach and freelance editor and this is one of the most important questions I ask the writer of each new work-in-progress they bring to me.

If they don't know what they're trying to communicate, the book or story or essay or screenplay isn't going to fly, because it'll just communicate the writer's confusion.

But once they can figure out and focus on what they're trying to communicate? A lot of things tend to fall into place.

Thanks for writing about this book! Because of your last essay, I've ordered it from Amazon and look forward to reading it.

LOVE the movie Pat and Mike.

One punch line from it, "Physical Ed? Who's he?" has stuck in my brain and I've thought of it often in the 5 decades since I first saw that film.