Mad Max Pontificates

Okay, so I just wanted to prove I knew big words. But really, Mad Max's blog is a must read, as he talks specifically about the joys of being an editor and clicking with an author whose book he had purchased. I found it fascinating. The relationship between author and editor can be sketchy, sometimes ugly, and often uncomfortable. But when it clicks, it really clicks.

...and suddenly it occurs to us--her first, then me--that even though I'd given this book two pretty close readings, and knew it to be a thing of genius, there was one thing I didn't know: what the book meant. Turns out that I'd totally misread something really important--which meant two things at once. First, yes, that I'm a dumb-ass; but second, that maybe she hadn't built her scaffolding quite so cleanly as she needed to to avoid dumb-asses like me from maybe missing something really important.

How can this be, you ask? Well, to really know, go read the blog. MM is really quite a lovely writer, in his own right.