Why learning to write is like playing cards.

• When I’m stressed at work, I play a game of spider solitaire on the computer. It’s the difference between doing work the right way or spending twice as long to correct the mistakes.
• When I’m listening to newspaper or magazine articles, I play solitaire to retain what I’m hearing.

I’ve been a dyslexic writer for over 20 years, and the process of learning HOW to be a writer — who can write books other people want to read — is excruciating.  

If this is true…

…then I’m 1/2 way there.

If it took 20 years to go half way, why in the hell do I want to spend 20 more years learning what most people learn in four years?

As my father used to say, “You’re too ornery to die.”

FINALLY!  I have a reliable editor.  What did I do?  I missed Friday’s 12 – 4 editing time.  I thought she said she had to skip a week.  Obviously, I wasn’t playing cards when she said she could do it the next week or I would have remembered.  That’s lesson #1. 

Lesson #2:  The last time Vickie edited, there was a 10 line mark-out.  I nearly fell on the floor!  That was one of my favorite paragraphs! I read the page over again without my “little darling” and it flowed better. I’m beginning to think that a writer and an editor are like two ends of a whole pencil:

Don’t know how long it will take to edit 29 books and upload them to Kindle.  At the rate we’re doing the editing? Probably around 20 years.

Excuse me while I play 200 more games of spider solitaire.