Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

It is a gift when someone else reads my writing and offers comments. I had to learn how to accept and use that gift.

I write a lot – more than most people. Sometimes, I am fortunate enough to have a few people read my writing before I submit it for publication. The question I ask the reviewers is:

What does this piece tell you?

For example, I write an article. I know the main point of the article – call it X. The reviewers come back with some comments and the big comment, “This paper is about Y, right?” They didn’t read the correct main point – the one I intended for them to read. They read something else.

There are several ways I can respond. Among them:

1. They are stupid and can’t read.
2. Hmm, Y is a neat idea, i will write about that as well in another paper.
3. I’ll rewrite the pages and try again to say X, then repeat the review process.

I used to always conclude number 1. I couldn’t believe how stupid most reviewers were. I groaned, mumbled, and did as I wished.

Most of the times that past few years I go with 2. and 3. The reviewers aren’t stupid. The reviewers are pretty smart. What is more, they took their time to read what I wrote and used their energy to comment for me. Once I better appreciated their gift, I heeded their advice. Some of the best papers I have written were ones that I rewrote because of 3.

Lessons? Sure there are lessons here. Lessons about knowing a topic so well that I gloss over the main point and concentrate on fine points that hold no interest to others. Lessons about the value of re-reading your writing. Lessons about how the real work of writing is in the revising.

The big lesson for me: people aren’t stupid. When I think that other people are stupid, I am being stupid.