Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Duet

Joy dropped by this morning just before sunrise in an email announcing that my submission titled Ecclesiastes was now live online.

As I follow the link to view the image the publisher selected to accompany my words, I notice something is different. The scripture included in my closing thoughts now appears at the beginning, just beneath a delicate floral image.

To every thing there is a season,and a time to every purpose under the heaven. —Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV 

Brilliant! is my heartfelt response. This simple change that the writer me could not imagine is powerful, practical, peaceful—capturing the essence, welcoming our readers.

Stunning! the editor me chimes in, awed by the simplicity and complexity of another woman's editorial talents.

My eyes move down the page.

Em dashes replace the misused en dashes. Yes. As a writer and an editor I often straddle the fence, using punctuation and structuring sentences in ways that promise to make my middle school grammar teacher cringe. So much of my writing is visual. I like the space-dash-space of the en dash and often feel confined by the em dash appearing to touch the words. So much of my writing is also auditory, filled with sentence fragments imitating the impromptu nature of public speaking.

Grateful! I am grateful for the generosity shown me by the community publishing my work and for the breathtaking trust a writer exhibits when giving me her precious unpublished manuscript.

I close my eyes, allowing my heart and mind to meditate on the duet that is writing and editing.

Rw

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