Editing – Round Two
Well, I’ve managed to prune and tidy untill the manuscript is less than 180 pages. I doubt it will shrink much more. I debated leaving them in chronological order but, with the disappearance of so many poems, the gaps would have been an unnecessary distraction. No, the poems must stand alone. The forms and content have been fairly varied and ‘arranging’ them in themes or categories seemed like a waste of time – rather like herding cats or nailing jello to the wall. So they will co-exist, in no specific order, in such a way as to make them all fit comfortably into a reasonable length book.
Now that I’ve pretty much decided what to leave in and what to leave out, it’s time to go over each one with a fine toothed comb – roll them on the back of my mind and see if they need more or less or other than what they have. It’s cold out there in the literary world – I must make sure they all have their galoshes and mittens and wings on.
Thank you for being so patient. Although I haven’t written any new poems over the Christmas holidays, Bill and I co-wrote a new song. Eventually it will make its way to the recording studio (aka-the spare bedroom) and will be given wings too.
Happy New Year.
Linda Studley 