Working on revision today, slugging through fat manuscripts and trying to find their zits and scars and blemishes, I'm reminded of a story a mentor, Don Murray, used to tell about how he could walk into an unfamiliar newsroom, observe reporters at work for the span of walking to the editor's office, and then boast to the editor that he could identify for him who the best writers in the room were. Editors, shocked at Murray's accuracy asked him how he knew. "I watched them while they wrote," he said. "With the good ones, their lips move as they read their work."
I don't always know if my work is good or not, but I know this morning that my lips are moving.
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