Sunday, December 6, 2009

Commiserating

(A short conversation with two of my kindred spirits.)

ME (to V and J): "One's standards cannot possibly be maintained for two months!" In other words, and as you know, when we're working on a piece of crap for what feels like forever, we reach a point when we pretty much go into an auto mode just to get the damned thing done. At that point, many of the items on our "final checklist" somehow don't seem necessary any longer.

V: That’s because at that point they aren’t necessary!

ME: And that begs the question, debated ad nauseum by our brethren and sistren, How much of what we do is truly necessary?

J: Depends—if you ask the general stupido, s/he will say barely anything; just catch the typos. If you ask those who know (writers, for instance), they’ll say a lot, “as long as it isn’t my writing!”