 My editorial life is about helping people tell their stories. Helping them say what they are trying to say. The goal is to make the projects better, more useful, and pleasant for the wider world of readers. Sometimes the job resembles therapy. One writer might need a hand to get past things that make him fearful or full of doubt. Another might require a subtle check on the runaway train that is her imagination. My work might include diagramming the odd sentence, straightening misaligned metaphors, tidying structural messes, spotting spelling errors. When I judge, I try to do it gently. It's a living. When I find something like this formal "artist's statement"?  I'm torn. On the one hand, face-palm. Verbiage like this an affirmation for why there is a profession like mine.
On the other hand, gently massaging my forehead, I am just grateful that this didn't happen on my watch.
13 Comments
ed salva
1/5/2018 07:33:55 pm
still laughing :)
Amy
1/6/2018 09:14:01 am
Glad to share the chuckle!
Jay Lott
1/5/2018 08:13:13 pm
You can't force clear writing where there is no clear thinking. There is a reason that some people are abstract visual artists.
Amy
1/6/2018 09:27:27 am
You're right, some people aren't linear or narrative or verbal thinkers –– though I get paid to make clear writing from whatever someone throws out there. Which often involves a trip down the rabbit hole to figure out what the heckydoodle the writer was thinking. Or trying to think. Or something.
Dawn
1/5/2018 10:32:18 pm
That just embodies all that is true in an organic way espousing nietzche-esque-methodology in a post-feminist manner which the "every man" can get behind.
Amy
1/6/2018 09:30:14 am
Embodies and espousing? You are killing it, Dawn!
humor lurking everywhere
1/7/2018 01:36:05 pm
Effortless bad writing is fun, but now I know tortured bad writing is awesome!
Amy
1/8/2018 08:17:04 am
Want a little more without the seriousness?
dishonorable mentions
1/8/2018 05:41:37 pm
Bulwer-Lytton has another new fan. Thank you for the education.
Ned Johnston
1/9/2018 05:45:31 am
This is a spot-on parody of an artist’s statement, intentional or otherwise.
Amy
1/10/2018 09:07:51 pm
I only wish it were.
fifty or sixty words or less
1/9/2018 09:31:33 am
His malady having stymied medicine's finest minds, while also causing years of occasional light discomfort, Charlie T's dry-eye was finally cured by the 2017 Bulwer-Lytton Contest Winner for Children's Literature.
Amy
1/10/2018 09:08:09 pm
Ha! Leave a Reply. |
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