Hill Country Writer

Oh, Mark, this was too funny! I like the comment about a nuclear attack. Seems like duct tape could survive that, yeah?

You and I are on the same page right now with our posts... ruminating about writing. (But my picture, taken by my seven-year-old, is a little more aesthetically pleasing... no duct tape, just a butterfly bush. :)

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement to "unwrap" my writing!
 

Everyone at Starbucks looked over when I bust out laughing at this one. Funny and insightful. Thanks.
 

L. L. this picture is anything but aesthetically pleasing. Glad you liked the post. I'm headed over to Seedlings in Stone in a minute.

Karl, good to hear from you, man. I hope you didn't spill coffee on yourself or anything.
 

Charity, thanks for reading. I agree completely about the difficulty of separating your work from yourself. Even as an editor I have this problem with my own writing. (Just see my comments to L.L.'s critique of my first chapter.)

As an editor, I have found that the more professional writers get it. Of course, they can because they have the affirmation of being published.

The most difficult and moody writers are often the academics. I've had a few people flat out refuse to be edited--often in a way that insults my editing efforts.

I don't like being insulted, but they don't have to accept my edits. However, I'll sure think twice before asking them to write for us again.

Part of the reason I'm posting an entire book here is to show my writers that editing and writing are completely different. I'm a decent editor but only an average writer.

So many writers take editorial advice as some kind of competitive challenge. As if I'm saying, "Hey man, I could do this better than you." But that's not it at all. I can just see the text with an objective eye. And my job is to make the hard calls, cut the sentences that don't support the vision of the piece.

Long comment, but there you have it.