Telescope Eyes

Does anyone ever really get used to being edited? Or do we just thicken our hides put our crash helmets on and plunge ahead... head first, at the speed of light?

Why do we do this?

Is it the nature of the writer to write? To be heard? To be understood?

At one time or another, I have wanted all of those things. It is always touching to me to not only be understood, but to touch the heart of the one who reads, to haunt the minds of others with the stories that haunt me. To leave my questions in the hearts of someone in whom they just might sprout and grow. To hear the words, "You moved me, that was brilliant. Great story."

I hear this song Telescope Eyes by Eisly when I'm being edited. I try to remember that the editor's job is to clarify what I have left muddy, to peer into the dark corners that I have painted over.

Even when it hurts. Especially if it hurts.

Kudos to Elizabeth Oliver of Rambler for shining the light where I didn't want to look, so that in the process I can become a better writer. I believe every great editor is a great writer.

Parles vous Francais?

With apologies to my favorite tech- Rico.
The trouble with the new desk top is how similar it is to the old one. I have in my head I’m going to do something, and find the program missing.
Or I find the typeface missing. We’re creative people. We like lots of creative choices. I figured out a long time ago how to glean fonts from various program discs. We had over 500 to choose from. With the new PC I’m missing a few programs that I really really liked.
I realized I had no word program to speak of. And then not enough fonts. When a computer crashes, it seems one is overcome with a kind of shock that brings with it amnesia. After crashing more than my fair share of computers, I learned to back and save just about everything. Especially photos, artwork and writing.

When becoming familiar with a new computer, the transition is less traumatic when the icons are the same, the programs run, or run the same.
I have a program that ran like a dream in XP. I now have XP Professional. It’s slightly different, and behaves sometimes like Vista. I download the scanner printer I’ve been using for two years and the instructions to proceed are easy—English. When I click on the next set of instructions, they come up in French. Not my native language.

Maybe there should be a DIY PC guide of multilingual translations. Sometimes, it’s easier to learn a foreign language than fix what’s wrong.