Lit Chat

Inspiration for being human.

Revisions, Not Settling, Revelations, and Adventure and Resilience

Thursday May 7, 2026

Happy Thursday humans! Here is this week's literary inspiration for being human...

Let's consider revisions...

I'll let you in on a little secret: I thought I was finished writing Woman Outside the City, but while reading the paperback proof, I kept finding lines I needed to fix—and not just minor proofreading corrections. Entire lines, paragraphs, and chapters needed to be rewritten. I was reluctant to accept this at first—I wrote a pretty good book, does it really need to be perfect?—but the more I read it, the more I realized I could make it even better. I want readers to love the book as much as I do. 

In his classic essay "Re-Vision," Mitchell S. Jackson shares a profoundly inspiring take on the concept of revision:

“Revision might include editing or proofing but will always move beyond them. Revision is seeing the work in progress. Revision is seeing the work in context. Revision is recognizing the parts of a text and how they work to form a whole. Revision is seeing what could and should and shouldn’t be there and conceiving of ways to make it so. Revision is discovering what’s right and imagining how to make it more right; it’s pursuing a new way of seeing and being. Revision is a philosophy; revision is revolution.”

I especially love the statement that revision is "pursuing a new way of seeing and being." Committing to revision thus facilitates enlightenment, revealing new possibilities that stem from new perspectives, new insights, and new experiences. Last week, I wrote about embracing the tension between broad vision and tiny details, and this leads me to discover new possibilities for my life and my work. I am continually growing and changing, and although I will soon wrap up with the last revisions for Woman Outside the City, I am learning that the revision process lasts much longer than we often realize.

Are you open to revision? Where might you find opportunities for fulfillment in your life and work? How can you embrace new perspectives and experiences that lead to new ideas and insights?

Let's discuss not settling...

“... Head in the heavens, she
doesn't see her body settle, gathering

dust in the human heap. I'm the one who taught her to sit still."

—"Wake Her Up" in Woman Outside the City)

How do you find a good balance between "settling" and wanting something better? Do you have a tendency to settle for less than what you really want, less than you are capable of? How do you hold yourself and others to high standards while also leaving room for humanity and imperfection?

Let's have a revelation...

In "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," poet Wayne Miller examines how an outward gaze can help us escape from self-alienation and self-absorption. As the speaker reflects on a summer spent in Spain when he was "newly single and miserable," he also recalls a passage paraphrased from his reading in which "the eye identifies / not with the body it belongs to / but with the object of its attention." This passage becomes a central idea in the poem, and the speaker describes how he couldn't focus on reading because the outside world kept catching his attention, "pulling me from myself." Although the speaker feels "locked inside a strange / interior," the external world—possibly because of its foreignness—eventually leads him to a revelation in the last line of the poem.

Put yourself in an environment where you can observe the external world with curiosity—what do you notice? What insights and revelations does this lead to?

Let's listen to music that inspires adventure and resilience...

This spring, I taught the classic novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who journeys from Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of treasure, discovering his "Personal Legend" and the importance of following his dreams along the way. The book inspires a spirit of exploration and adventure; for the literature study I wanted to create an immersive experience that would convey the excitement one feels when reading the book. I found a playlist featuring Andalusian flamenco guitar music that became the soundtrack for our class sessions. Long after we finished the book, this playlist still invigorates me; it's calming, yet it also makes me feel like a traveler on an exotic adventure. Even while I'm working at my desk or driving in rush hour traffic, this  playlist helps me escape from the confines of daily life to connect with a sense of discovery and resilience.

Bricolage Lit Adventures