It’s editing season! When the words are threshed for their nutritious nuggets and the verbal husks are given back to the fields.
My first full-length poetry collection is now in the professional editing phase. I should get notes back by the end of the month, if not sooner. I’m thrilled to be working with poet Christopher Luna at Printed Matter Vancouver for this process.
I also just submitted a fantasy short-story to a critique group. Critters.org has been an online, purely plain-text based Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Horror critique group since 1995 (!) – the golden era of monospace terminals and robotically chirping dial-up modems.
I think I was somewhat resistant to editing and critique when I was younger, but now it’s almost as exciting to me as writing itself, for two reasons. First, my love and devotion is really to the work, not to my ego – I recognize, as with so many things (love, mathematics, etc.) finding out about your own faults or mistakes can make the outcome more perfect. Second, I realize now that editorial collaboration is collaboration, and critique/workshop community is community. This is what art is about – connecting us through interaction and collective wrestling with expression and meaning.