Reply #51: About taboos and "thinking outside the box": [View All]

It's so interesting that this would come up now--just as I was noticing that all of the recent writing I've been doing has been about facing taboos I have never dared touch before in my art. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of the recently completed pieces, truthfully--I've put myself much farther out there in any of them than I have in anything else I've ever done. It's makes sense that it's tied up in my Scorpio-ness. Sigh. I love my ascendant. There could not have been a better rising sign for me to have been given in this life, really.

Also, I consider myself extremely grateful to have learned a long time ago that there is no substitute for an excellent editor. Like Elliot, I recognize that an editor is often the better craftsman. I've actually been told that one of the faults I will have to watch out for in the future is wanted to make too many of the changes those I solicit writing advice from will recommend. Being able to see the value in an editor's criticisms is important, but so is wanting to fight for the integrity of your own artistic vision a little. One instructor I had, who was himself a nationally known editor, cautioned me against allowing the "voices of too many others" to dilute my own. But I'm looking forward to meeting my editors of the future. Since your brought up past lives, I wanted to post that one thing a past life reader told me about the novel I'm trying to finish is that it may take up to five years from now to see publication, because of a lengthy editing process that I will feel has made it better than I could have ever imagined. I'm totally excited about that.