Sometimes we must simply acknowledge the skill of others who can do what we cannot.
The first 45 seconds of today’s video is a metaphor for what your manuscript will look like after a great editor slices and dices it into something unique and exciting.
Of course, it could be just a potato being chopped up. But I prefer the word picture.
Enjoy the skill of this chef!
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Someone has to recognize whether the ingredients are not spoiled and if the finished product will taste good enough to sell. If the finished product is not healthy to consume, a moral decision must be made whether to enable its production.
I’m incredibly grateful for my editors, their skills, and the beautiful end products we produce together, but, oh, it’s hard to be the potato sometimes. (Ha!)
My fingerprints would have become part of the food in the first slice of that knife. Things would have gone downhill from there.
Thanks for the warning!
Thomas Umstattd’s Patron Toolbox has put me through the ringer. Couldn’t help but notice the cross on the final presentation.
Yep, that’s what it feels like, but oh! so very necessary and I am thankful for the fruit that comes with the ouch of discipline and the slicing of the editor’s scalpel. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have bee trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11
Mr. Laube,
After being in China for one month, eating a variety of extremely delicious Chinese cuisines, this video makes much sense. Especially, I finished reading your books: Write Your First Novel and Sacred Margins, in addition to books by other authors. I have learned that a book that can create a profound impact on many others is not just about presenting the raw materials. But like the chef, it involves the people involved, the process, required skills, and thoughtful planning, as well as the factors (ingredients, temperature, and time, etc.) involved. I am working on the second revision of Forever Red. My mentor is pleased with the progress she saw in my revision. Thank you so much for your impact on me.