Inspired by my students' growing definitions of editing, here is a garden-variety blog post.
I have been editing parsnips and carrots in our Back 40 (square metres, not sections).
The seeds of these root vegetables are too small to plant individually, so you sprinkle them in a row, then stand back and watch 'em explode.
The result is a row of tiny plants, competing for room to grow.
Unless they are thinned out, you'll get a mass of roots too skinny for human consumption.
Because we want crunchy, delicious carrots and shapely, tasty turnips for roasting, I thinned out those delicate growths, leaving fewer than half to compete for nutrition and sunlight. The losers go into the compost, of course.
This summer I will thin them several more times: ruthless, Old Testament style editing.
As Lyle Lovett says, Joshua Judges Ruth.
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