The Times, They Are A-Changin’

I'm okay with little changes, like blue hair.

So, change is good right?

When it comes to big changes, like moving to a different state or altering my worldview or rewriting an entire novel, I’m not too keen. I like regimen and consistency. I like knowing where I’ve been and where I’m going.

I’m okay with little things, like geting a hair cut or changing my desktop background. In fact, I welcome these kind of superficial changes. Things that alter apearrance but in the end don’t really matter. (I changed my desktop background this weekend from the inside of a giant library to a castle with a drawbridge.)

This past month and on into August we’ve been experiencing a lot of change at work. A lot of people moving to different departments, others leaving us for grad school, and a lot of new hires coming in to take their places and new jobs being created. It’s like the editing department exploded! Well, although I’ve been at Tate for a year now and don’t plan to leave anytime soon, these changes have affected me as well. One, in that my brother-in-law, Thomas, is coming to work in my department, and two, in that I switched to the children’s team. I also moved desks, which gave me an opportunity to clean out my space, so that was nice. I’m pretty excited about the first change (probably because I think it’s cool that for once I know more than Thomas does, and his presence will be spurring me to keep my edge) and sorta excited/very apprehensive about the second one. I’m excited to work closely with a team of editors that I haven’t gotten to yet and learn a lot about children’s books, and I’m very apprehensive that I won’t do as well as a children’s editor. Children’s books are a lot different than adult books, in case you haven’t noticed. Everybody keeps assuring me that I’ll be fine, so I’m trying to not worry about it. I realize that I have a habit to unnecessarily stress out about stuff, but unfortunately that doesn’t keep me from stressing out anyway.

Trinity College Library in Dublin

So, as August begins and we launch into the next phase in our lives, keep in mind that change is a great way to keep ourselves on our toes. New people add fresh ideas and different approaches to the problem. And you know that part earlier where I said that I don’t like to rewrite complete novels? Yeah, well, I better get over that, because it’s called editing, and it’s the most important part of the writing process. I should know; I’m an editor. Yo. (And here’s a picture of a really cool library. All those books there were edited. A lot.)