From the Editor:
Spring
By Lazette Gifford
Copyright © 2007 by Lazette Gifford, All Rights Reserved
It is finally starting to look like
spring here. We still had snow at the beginning of April, but now
flowers are out, trees are turning green, and the grass needs mowed.
It's hardly fair that the moment things look better it gets to be more
work again.
Maybe that's an analogy for writing,
now that I think about it. Once you get the first draft done you have
that far too short time of elation, and then realize there's more work
to do precisely because it is done. Time to start doing the mowing and
weeding -- all the editing work that comes before you can send a story
out. It can be quite frustrating when you first look at it.
But it sure looks good and feels better
when it's done.
So for those of you who are gardeners,
think of your editing as that part after you sow the seeds and when the
plants are starting to grow. You want to get out there and make certain
there aren't any weeds choking the best plants off, and that the pretty
flowers have good light so they grow well and are noticed.
And a gardener knows a steady covering
of flowers may look lovely at a distance, but it's often the
individuals, standing out against something other than more flowers,
that make something truly lovely. It can't all be flowers or else the
single flower is lost in the crowd.
Your story is your garden. Next year
you'll plant a different one with new flowers and maybe a few more thorn
bushes, but this year you have this one to work with. Time to start
weeding!
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