As long as a writer sits alone with her words, there is no threat. However, there is something about producing those words and stringing them together that seems to call for sharing them, which brings up the next layer of wanting the very best words on the very best string. Getting feedback on putting them together in the very finest way makes the writer ambivalent. My friend Laura Dragon expressed the feeling in a Facebook meme, “Writers feel like this is my baby, and now somebody’s going to tattoo it.”
Sources for the tattooing process come into play here with either a good critique group, a beta reader, or a fine editor. (Occasionally, it may even include her computer that reminds her, as mine just did with a red line, that I left out a “t” in “tattoo.”) The writing helpers’ tattoo kits forego the usual equipment but include word skills, sticky notes, and colored ink pens. In all honesty, the writer looks at these tools with a sense of dread, much like distaste for a nasty medicine even when the ailing person knows it will cure a miserable sickness.
In a bit of lagniappe (since it’s based in Louisiana), the corona virus has brought me into a congenial group with the best tattoo instruments. My critique group meets twice a week via Zoom. They somehow get to the crux of a problem with the word strings while giving encouragement at the same time, kind of like the nurse that surprises you because she can give a shot that doesn’t even hurt.
For the most part, I’ve had good tattooing editors. The Cricket editor checked for permission before doing his tattoos, – taking away my KFC and replacing it with a Tastee Chicken because they don’t do real brand names and pointing out a couple of other small needed adjustments but allowing me to make the changes. The Writer editor pointed out that my ending lacked the potency of the rest of my article and made a couple of suggestions but liked my counter proposal better. I have only had one editor who tattooed, without any input from me, until I did not recognize what I had written. I have not sent him anything else.
And those beta readers (including husband Al, always first reader, who also reads these blogs) – with their sticky notes and colored pens! Thankfully, most of them add words of encouragement along with needed manuscript polishing. “Sounds good,” from Al is high praise! I agree with Laura one hundred percent. I hold my breath as I send my “baby” out for inspection by those tattoo artists and look the other way just like I do when a nurse approaches me with a needle. However, I must say I have come to trust my tattoo artists to notice if my “babies” have lettuce between their teeth or catsup on their chins and give thanks for their assistance.