Editors get the short shrift.

Editors get the short shrift, the short end of the stick, the short straw. Editing is at the spine of the day, the thought, the attitude, the final moment of doing, the middle of doing, and all about doing. Editing is requesting, finishing, amplifying and pressing. As a designer, editing is included in every step, obvious and visible. As a teacher it is a simultaneous internal conversation with what is happening and what is the intention of the class, the project, the moment of improvising. As a parent editing means -pick your battles-.

I read part of a book on time-management once (which is more telling of my own frustration of not having enough time more than actually wanting any real ‘managing’ of  time). The author’s point was that having a  satisfaction of accomplishment meant having one’s priorities in order and simply changing language: ‘I chose not to do that, but to do this’ — choosing to do one thing is choosing not to do another and this decision should be based on the bigger  goal. Again: editing, cutting, sequencing, deleting and adding.

Editing is taking away, editing is adding. What is left is the real content, wish, sentence, story, image, sequence, identity, day or touch. Editing is time-based. It happens before, during, and after. It is the planning, the doing and the edited after-version of memory of artifact. It is life.