Mia Verstraete, tekstchirurg

“A guru is not one who has a following. A guru is one who can show me the way. Suppose I’m in the forest and somehow I’ve lost my way. Then I’ll ask a person, “Is this the way -home?” That person might say, “Yes, you go this way.” I say, “Thank you,” and I go my way. That is a guru.”

T.K.V. Desikachar, The Heart of Yoga

“Writing and rewriting are a constant search for what it is one is saying.”

John Updike

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”

William Hutchinson Murray (1913-1996), from his book The Scottish Himalayan Expedition (1951)

“De ‘esprit de l’escalier” treft je wanneer je weggaat en onder aan de trap realiseer je je dat je nog niet alles hebt gezegd wat je had willen zeggen. Het zijn de momenten waarop je je beste opmerkingen weet, je scherpste antwoorden bedenkt en… geen tijd meer hebt om ze uit te spreken.”

Paola Calvetti, Voor liefde zie de letter L

The way I see it, editing is a very “buddhist” activity – you’ve got to make your own ego very transparent and serve the author’s voice, not show off with your own skill. I think a good editor should be invisible, or at least make themselves as transparent as possible. You know something’s happened to the text but you can’t exactly pinpoint what. Sometimes I even have to look for what exactly it was I did to a text when a customer tells me I made it so much better. It’s very much in the details. But I guess that’s a personal thing – I think I’ve got a “minimalist” editing style, I will never bulldozer through a text.