Sunday, June 28, 2020
By:
When I opened my email on Monday afternoon, a copy of my own writing was waiting in the inbox. It was the short article that I’d written the week before. Andrew was sending it back with thorough critiques of word choice, writing style, and story structure. As I read through the edits, my fingers hesitated over my keyboard. My pinky touched the “delete” button, but an inner rebuttal kept it from pressing down.
I can’t delete this– my rebuttal began– I like this sentence! I like this paragraph! How could I scrap the precious words that I’d worked so hard to string together?
That little rebellion was a struggle that I’d faced before. With any writing assignment, I will eventually become attached to my own words. I create a phrase that I’m proud of, and when this phrase no longer serves the piece, deleting it takes a non-zero amount of willpower– it takes a certain detachment from my own work. After all, if writing is a process of creation, editing is a process of letting go.
Eventually, I let out a sigh and pressed “delete.” I tore my work to pieces, saved the useful parts, and switched back into my writer’s hat to reconstruct a better, stronger article. I anticipate that, this time next week, I’ll have gone through the same process a second time.
Editing my article was the first of several lessons on attachment. Between constructing (and deconstructing) my short piece, I’d also been tasked with seeking topics for a longer story. I came come up with several possibilities, but the very first idea was my favorite. I wanted to write a profile on Sally Ride, an LGBTQ astronaut whose identity wasn’t revealed to the public until her obituary. Through her story, I hoped to explore the way that physics culture interacts with the LGBTQ+ community. I swiftly realized that such a complex piece would take experience and nuance that I don’t yet possess. It would take a seasoned reporter who could land good interviews, craft compatible narratives, and skillfully weave them into a coherent, meaningful story. Letting go of this idea (for the time being) was a second lesson on attachment.
To end on a lighthearted note, my third lesson on attachment came on Friday night, when I joined the other interns to watch The Core for our bad physics movie night. I won’t comment on the merits of the plot, but the physics in that movie is atrocious. If ever you venture to watch it, be warned that you will have to learn to let go of any attachment to physical reality.
Samantha Creech