Killing My Darlings: The Editing

Have you ever taken a multiple-choice exam and gone back to change your answers? Only to get the exam back and realize you answered correctly the first time? Well, editing this manuscript has been nothing of the sort.

Imagine my surprise when I counted the errors and slips in a single chapter just to realize I had made nearly 50 mistakes. Humbling, yet crucial. I shutter at the potential embarrassment I would have felt had I handed this extremely rough draft off to the professional editor. To be so bold as to send it without taking the time to self-edit beforehand….

Let there be no confusion and let there be no hesitation in me saying that this first self-edit is taking time. I was fucking up the commas in the worst ways possible. But it has allowed me the opportunity to revisit the fellas. The study participants whom I hope you enjoy meeting in the coming months.

The vulnerability and candor of the interviewees will be forever appreciated. I hope to preserve their speech patterns. Uh’s and um’s may slow the reader down, but it is true to the cadence of the interviewees’ answers. I hope that the reader appreciates the long pauses indicated by ellipses. And I hope the contractions of colloquial language are familiar.

Everything about this passion project—this book—has been intentional. From the book cover to the title to the imperfections of run-on sentences, there is reason and method involved. The release date, February 4, 2024? Intentional. And I pray that it is celebrated. Whether or not by many, time will tell.

Enjoy the content as it comes. Follow the Instagram and share the post with friends. Spark conversations with family. Pass it along. Because I truly hope that this book stands as one of the first of its kind. Making academia more accessible while making the taboo part of table talk.