This is my dining room table, the papers scattered across it are proofreading notes and edits to be made on stories I am drafting. If I need to handwrite something, I use a sharpie, printing very large. I am slightly embarrassed to tell you that most of what you read here involves a lot of changes. A lot. And that is just the text – grammar, punctuation, a tweak to the tale. Then there are the images: sizing, aligning, editing. And, oh, the hashtags! WordPress, the software program I use for Sister Rain, counts the updates that are made to a post. I try not to look. I do not want to know. I just want it right.
Perfectionism and legal blindness are not a good combination. I despise the idea of publishing errors, especially when they are caused by my sight. I use the spell check feature, but it is not reliable. There is a very good chance that I would fail to catch the incorrect bits even if I was able to see properly. But it is always nice to have a villain to blame.
Are you hard on yourself, like I am? (I don’t think that I am but when enough people who know you well tell you so, it is difficult to discount.) If you do have a tendency to not cut yourself some slack, does it bother you? Are you even aware of it? Since I am repeatedly informed as a result of others’ observations, I try to do better, to be as kind to me as I would be to someone I care about. I am not often successful which causes frustration, creating another layer of giving myself the business.
I guess I need to look at it this way: Sister Rain is all about my life. And I make mistakes. Not just in the process of getting my stories to you, but in the larger scheme of a human existence. As much as I work at it, even enlisting Mister Rain as my final proofreader, Sister Rain will be flawed.
Let’s make a pact. You go easier on yourself and I will two. I meme, come on. Were only humane.
#sisterrain #alittlesightalotofheart #legallyblindwriter #sisterrainismistaken
