While editing, that is. When I edit something, I usually end up completely rewriting a portion of the article (if it’s mine). If it’s someone else’s work/résumé/words, then I stick with their content and just reword or rephrase a few things to make it sound nicer. I don’t touch other people’s content–it’s not mine to play around with.
My own words, however, are fair game. And then I wonder why I just didn’t spew out the completed document in the first place? Oh well. Tis the beauty of creative genius, I suppose.
If only everything else in life were that simple. Have something to work with, tweak it a bit to make it sound sensible and coherent and pretty and voilà! Done. I suppose that approach would devalue the point and need of hard work then. Making us all lazy (or lazier, in some cases) and unable to recognize what effort even was. It would sure save a lot of time and embarrassment for many people. When I think of all the more popular or somewhat influential people in the world who say something, unedited. Then there’s a quick defense, oftentimes followed by a retraction of the statement or an apology. Sometimes both. The ability to self-edit the first time would drastically reduce the things that society has to get opinionated about. That would, however, leave us with time to get opinionated and informed about what truly matters in life. Go figure…
Back to the editing grind I go. I’m almost done. Then I can look forward to more editing and tweaking in my future, especially if I hope to keep on writing.
And I’m totally okay with that.