Man, I love coffee. But I didn’t always. “Too bitter!” I said. But I started drinking it because of what it could do for me (keep me alert during late night play rehearsals my first year of college). And then I began craving it.
Editing, like coffee, is an acquired taste. Few budding writers love it. Instead, many fantasize that, like Athena springing full-grown from the head of Zeus, flawless masterpieces will spring from their fingers. But Athena is a myth. And so are perfect first drafts.
Once I came to appreciate what editing could do for me, I ended up loving it. Almost as much as I love coffee.
In clay modelling, you start with a lump, from which you shape a rough version of the image in your head: wide-set eyes, hollow cheeks, hawk-like nose. Then you begin altering what you’ve created (moving the eyes further apart), removing…
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