Still here...

OK, so I am not flagging on my commitment to writing, not at all.

Any time I get where I could be writing something new, I'm mostly using to pound and mangle "The View From Above" to get it into better shape, so I can send it out.

I've sought the advice of a handful of friends whose literary opinions I trust. They've been helpful, but I also feel like it's the first time someone else is seeing why I haven't done this before.

For one thing, there is no right answer in the editing process. Three different reviewers, three radically different opinions. The new intro is good... the new intro robs the piece of a lot of it's immediacy and feel. Present tense is weird... changing it to the past tense weakened it.

One even suggested removing what I think is the punch line to the whole thing, the story of the employee whose wife has the brain tumors.

I have no idea how many revisions it's seen now. It's back in the present tense, where it'll stay. The intro bits keep flashing in and out of existence. I may have to lose my line about commercial-grade weevil poison, acoustic ceiling tile and urinal cakes, which pains me.

It's also hard because every iteration becomes a new piece in my mind, and with every change, something is lost. I write largely because since I was a kid, I've always hated the idea that so many moments and thoughts are just lost. So, editing... yeah, kinda sucks.

But however it turns out, it's hitting the mail this week, and others won't be far behind. Time to step up and see if anyone other than the four or five of you (that's optimistic, and I'm counting myself) have any interest in what I have to say...