Navigating a revision.

There is the storydprobably apocryphald of the avid sailor, a retired physician, who lives on the Northeast US Atlantic coast and is said to host an unusual annual autumn beachfront gathering. His closest friends join him for the burning to the ground of a beloved sailing craft, generally a small wooden boat that he had spent the previous winter building in his workshop. First-time attendees are generally surprised that he insists this is actually a celebration. It is part of an annual revision process. He follows the beachfront event with highly reflective design work. Then, in the dark days of a New England winter, he builds a new boat. He employs two simple rules for revision. First, capture the best of the accumulated design elements from the previous year ’s craft and, second, assure that the new design incorporates all that is new and innovative. In the spring, he launches anew. That’s what the editor in me calls a proper revision!