Last year I signed up for a consultation with the brilliant poet Lisa Fay Coultey to get some feedback on my poetry manuscript. Yay, I asked for help! 

But, even though I’m a fellow editor and I know how it works, I didn't really like the feedback I got (or wasn’t ready to receive it), so I complained to a friend and then put Lisa's notes away and moved on. 

Has anyone else done this? Maybe you went to a therapist or a support group and then promptly decided it wasn't for you, that "things weren't that bad." Or you asked a friend for feedback and then got defensive or pulled away. 

It can be so hard to receive help.  

Anyway, I felt the impulse to look at Lisa's editing notes again. And folks, maybe this isn't coming as a surprise, but it was so helpful and/or I was ready.

Lisa told me that she thinks I'm burying the main loss of the book. She said: "drop the stone early, so we can see the ripples throughout the book."

Ah, I felt the truth of this in my bones. 

I've been thinking about what a human impulse this is—to obscure the deepest hurts, to bury the main loss, to think you've dropped the stone even as it's still clutched in your hand and even when you're writing a whole book about it!  

I love finding the buried spots (this is what both coaching and editing do), and it feels like one more layer is being peeled as I am ready to accept some challenging help with my poetry manuscript, to allow someone else to point out a buried spot for me. Whew.  

This is why we seek out a teacher or mentor or editor or sponsor or therapist or coach or a trusted friend. Because we can't always see it for ourselves. 

I am willing, and that's the biggest first step.

Take good care,
Brianna