"Rewrite"

What is the number one goal of the Evansville School District for the current academic year? Yes. Very good class. To Improve Student Writing.

You must know that one of the most difficult aspects of the writing of The Observer, is hearing from my editorial staff that there might be a flaw of some sort in an article that I have written. It is difficult indeed to hear this from an outsider, a blogger from the net, but to hear it from your own staff cuts to the bone. The term REWRITE” is very hard to hear. In fact there are other variations of the word that are hard to hear-------like REDO or……REFIGURE……or RECALCULATE…..or in kid slang---GO FIGURE

There is a real rush of excitement with the new technology now to publish as soon as one has written something. That is an impulse that can be deadly indeed.

To fight off the rush to publish, I have brought back to life an old Apple Ibook and write the first draft on it. That slows me down a little. Publishing to the net is a few more steps then. The perfect thing is if a good night sleep comes between the writing and the publishing. Such a problem. These are the types of problems that writers of old dreamed of.

So, when my editors come home at night, and review what I have done, and point out a fatal flaw here and there, I just cannot say, “That is a done deal. It CANNOT be changed. It just has to be that way. There is NO other choice about it. “

If I ever hint of such inflexibility, my editorial crew just chants-------NOT.

Or, they say, “ It’s just easy to correct…Here’s how…”

SO----I am just a little impatient when I am dealing with our school board or our city government or DOT or any level of government that tells me that that the numbers just have to be that way----or that it has been all decided in private and there is no time for other consideration because the decision must be made now……and besides the accountants are on vacation..

I keep hearing the voices of my kids------Dad---it’s easy to fix it…click,…click….click….

Yes….it is time to confront it. REVISE----REWRITE----REDO---REFIGURE-----RECOMPUTE-----

Whether it is great writing or great budgeting----it is required. It is not optional.