To keep

As promised, here is the new essay. Thanks again to KenP for the link that set up the piece, or gave me a digression before I even got started on the meat of the thing.

"Did you read it?" the wife asks, just as she does every time one gets published, not that I don't know what I wrote (this ain't my poetry), but to make sure the transfer of copy went without a hitch. My answer is usually in the negative and for reasons not hers.

Today, not because she asked but more because a friend commented on the last two paragraphs, I went back to that section and had a look. I was reminded why I don't, or rather, stopped post-published proofing some time ago.

The last sentence: While its meaning can be ascertained, I am unhappy with the construction. There is an ambiguity that was not included with intention.

And now I tell myself, "You should have let it sit for one more day before having it published, just to let it breathe and then you would catch these mistakes," just like every time I have reread in the past.

You know the phrase of writing wisdom: "It is never finished." The editing is exhausting but never exhaustive, and so, at some point one must let go. I'll start working on that phase now, right after I proof the above.