Sweating the Small Stuff!
In February, my article, Six Lenten Pitfalls, was featured in St. Anthony Messenger magazine. (If you missed it, it can be found on the St. Anthony Messenger blog at www.FranciscanMedia.org) This was followed by a mention in the back cover column by editor John Feister in April. In the column Feister wrote about the attention to detail that is part of an editor’s life. “Sometimes beauty is in the eye of a writer, a photographer, an illustrator. It’s an editor’s job to discern if the author, or other, has communicated that vision adequately before we publish his or her work.”
He went on to talk about a discussion about my article at an editorial meeting. Some of the editors had questioned my giving the ability to see to a chocolate chip cookie: “’Wait a minute!’ one of our editors exclaimed. ‘You can’t make eye contact with a cookie, even one with chocolate chips!’ That was enough to ignite, once again, our editors’ spirit of debate, honing the quality of your magazine. ‘No, cookies don’t have eyes,’ said another. And someone else wondered about calling a cookie a temptress.”
Clearly, they do not love chocolate the way I do. A true chocolate lover has no problem with seeing eyes in a chocolate chip cookie, taunting and tantalizing, beckoning them on to take a bite! They also hear the siren sound of chocolate calling to them from a hiding place in the kitchen cupboard.
I would have loved to have heard the debate. Grown adults talking about whether cookies can have eyes or not.
They decided to leave the article as it was: “After hearing ourselves out, we decided to leave it alone. . . . Sometimes our debate at editorial meetings is about the weightiest of issues, but, as you can see, we sweat the details, too.” (For whole article, click here.)
There are times to sweat the details, and times not to sweat the details. Editors sweat the small stuff in their efforts to bring out the best in every bit of writing they encounter. Thank God for their efforts!
As for me, I hear a piece of chocolate calling my name!
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