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Given the state of the world over the last year, it is not much to say that throughout the pandemic and particularly 2020, I struggled to read what wasn’t required of me for work. Nor did I feel it was something I had to examine in great depth. There was a lot to do ensuring the people I love were safe and there was the need to stay focused on paying the bills as some of my work contracted. More than anything I was tired, most especially at night when I like to read, happy to just climb into bed, another day defeated, and closer, I hoped, to a vaccine. 

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I first became aware of Joni Mitchell’s Blue when Rolling Stone printed their instantly outmoded "Top 100 Albums of the Last 20 Years" in 1987. That her masterpiece was ranked at 46, I’d later learn, was one of the many problems with the male-dominated list, but I’m grateful they at least printed the final verse to “The Last Time I Saw Richard.”

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So today we’re going to talk about how to evaluate a work in progress. I think it’s crucial to look at your work through a variety of different gazes in order to achieve different things. You have to put on different hats, in order to see the full picture here, and then edit accordingly. So let’s dig in and expand on this topic, and see if we can’t improve your process.

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Image via Stas Knop

For the longest time, I didn’t understand audiobooks.

Not that I couldn’t comprehend the actual books: I legitimately couldn’t grasp the concept of audiobooks as a way of reading. I had tried, many years ago, to get into them, thinking it would be a great way to make use of my commute time. But I just...couldn’t. The subway was too loud, I couldn’t focus—I just wanted to read my hardcovers and paperbacks and maybe an occasional ebook.