Whipple me senseless

“It is of great use to the sailor to know the length of his line, though he cannot with it fathom all the depths of the ocean.”--John Locke

Natalie Whipple, repped by Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown has a fantastically helpful blog that I frequent more than I'd care to admit. She's bright and witty and I can't wait to get my greedy paws on some awesome YA for a change. (Stephenie Meyer just ain't pushing my buttons anymore.)

I've been blogging a lot about editing lately (oh so sorry), but it's only because the evil manuscript chomping monster has taken control of my computer. Seriously, a hairy looking spider crawled across my computer screen yesterday. While it was in my lap! Beyond gross.

Back to Whipple: she wrote a blog post the other day called "The Importance of Hating your Book" that completely summed up my feelings on the editing process. I thought you might like to read about what a rising star might have to say about what little 'ole unpublished me is going through at this exact moment. You can read it here.

And here's a little poem I wrote two minutes ago to jump-start the morning. (Warning: What you are about to read is not good for the eyes. The author has not had her morning coffee, nor does she claim to be a poet in any shape or form--in fact, author does not claim to have a sense of humor either, yet here she is, still trying. However, if any money shall be made from the copyrighted words below author shall receive hefty payments of chocolate truffles delivered on the 1st of the month for the rest of her life in lieu of monetary payment.)

Editing! Stroke!

Editing, oh, editing
How I love to trudge through your waters.
Ands and Buts catch in the rocks of your shallows
along with wrongly worded adverbs and bristly starfish.
I backstroke in my dialogue and butterfly in my voice.
No matter how hard I anchor time and place
your tide still pulls out, tangling my lines.
Editing, oh, editing
How I drown in your currents of hope and purpose.