Friday night, I sent off the first quarter of my Vista book, more than an hour and a half before the midnight deadline. Finishing these chapters was actually harder than I expected, which bodes ill for that final quarter.

I was helped this week by two great writers and editors, cko and MR. They made me very appropriately conscious of my overuse of “stuff,” “things” and “it,” among other placeholders. They did much more than that, improving the text immediately at hand as well as affecting me for the better for the rest of the book.

Now that the book is on its (the book’s) way to two or three more editors, I’m learning to appreciate editors. Mind you, I know I’m not perfect. I’ve read enough of my own writing to see that. I’ve read and re-read something I’ve written, marvelling at the errors I find the third or fourth time, only to continue to miss other errors. It is human nature to see other’s mistakes more easily than our own. That’s why we need editors and indulgent friends (and people who are both).

Still, as I write these words, I’m trying to tell the world something straight from my mind and heart — these are MY words right now. It is rare that MY words hit print exactly the way they seemed inside my head. It is rarer still that I might express myself in a way that both you and I see as really hitting the nail on the head.

And so, there is great pleasure in feeling “I wrote this!” To have someone come after me and say, “You misspelled that,” makes me feel foolish (though it has been happening my whole life). To have someone say, “change that to ‘I wrote this sentence’ and drop the exclamation point,” is, well, it’s … painful. These words are my children and no one has to love them the way I do, but no one should tell me how to tend them.

Can you imagine someone telling Julia Childs, “this soup needs more salt”? If the analogy seems a little too self-important, than how would you feel if someone were to adjust the burner on the stove, stir the rice, change the timer, season the pot for the meal you were cooking? All for the better, right? How could anyone resent that good help in any way? And if your helpmate adds a seasoning you don’t care for or vetoes your favorite vegetable, well, come on, surely that doesn’t bother you! Soon, it’s “here, I’ll cut your steak for you.”

And yet, who wants to read error-ridden, rambling and obtuse self-indulgence? (Besides blog readers.) An editor’s thankless jobs include reminding the author to make the point more clearly, directly and, sometimes, more succinctly. The editor is selflessly improving the work for the benefit of the reader and the writer, who gets the praise for his or her great writing (oh, but you didn’t see the three five ten drafts).

I’m learning to stop thinking of editors as a necessary evil and more as … well, I haven’t found the righter words yet, but I’m working on it. mjh

PS: Mer saw a sign from the Universe this week at God’s House Church, ABQ:

“God always leaves you better than he found you (like an editor).”

Which reminds me for some reason of this line from Junebug:
“God loves you just the way you are but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.”

PPS: Check out this Vista blooper:
PC Training & Consulting Weblog » @!X!^& Media Player in Microsoft Windows Vista