Re: careful, man at work

Scottie said:

> '... Well, I've just re-read my last post ...'
>
> John, this is really wonderful news. Even if you only start
> in a small way, you'll find the the habit of reviewing & revising
> your writing soon becomes second nature - you may even feel
> a tiny bit shamefaced to think how, in the past, you used to let
> the stuff just pour out in that roguish - but, could I say, ever so
> slightly self-indulgent - way. What I can promise is your students'
> appreciation. Why, at this very moment I'll bet they're thinking up
> cute little ways of expressing their gratitude!
>
> Jolly good. Keep it up!

Scottie, Old Sport: John -- like me, perhaps like you -- is a
compulsive reviser, and his defense of himself hardly does
justice to the self-scrutiny he applies to his own words. I had
the fortune to do a bit of mechanical work behind getting his
dissertation into physically publishable form. (I had utterly
no involvement in the content, but merely the creation of a
laser-printed form that was acceptable to his committee and to
the dissertation-mongers in Ann Arbor, Michigan.) He nearly
drove me crazy with his commitment to the tiniest details. It
was scholarship of the highest order. It put most people to
shame.

I know you enjoy needling people, but you've got the wrong
victim in your sights. Somehow, that irritates me more than the
usual art that goes on here of pulling-the-wings-off-flies.

TIM O'CONNOR
-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
Received on Sun Apr 27 21:00:33 2003