As a quilter of small fabric wall art, I have never completed a piece that I didn't want to make changes, or reinvent in a slightly different way. I guess most people who create something would like the occasional do-over. That has been happening to humanity since the beginning of time.
Nice work on the changes in the Christmas Blizzard...I can relate to James as an ordinary fellow.

All the best for the Holidays...
Peg

For the quilter and the re-writing, I add an old Amish saying (especially regarding their quilts, which have one "odd" square in the design), "Only God makes perfect".
I don't think I have ever done or made anything that I didn't think could have been just a little bit better. Minnesota Norwegian Lutheran Angst, maybe?
Happiest of Holidays to All!

Garrison - I liked your response to the reader's question about rewriting some of your work. Especially the part about a writer having said pretty much WHAT he has to say, now figuring out HOW to say it better. With that in mind, I'm curious to know something about what half of Love Me you would pull out, and what is the core you would expand? I really enjoyed the book and alternately laughed at and felt sympathetic toward Larry's plight. If "the core" has to do more with Larry getting back with his wife than with his writing (mis)adventures, might some of the funny go away too? Also, I hope you do an audio version, of both works if it comes to that.

Phil Luecke
Bellevue, WA

That is what Nuns of Florence said while they were creating the Bargello stiches in 16th Century. "Only God makes perfect projects.
And they would make a mistake on purpose. When you see a Bargello wall hanging in a museum, its fun to look for the mistake.

If "only God makes perfect projects" no one needs to intentionally make a mistake on anything. I've heard that about the Italians too, intentionally creating a flaw in anything they make. If they really believed that nothing is perfect unless God makes it, they should realize imperfection will happen on its own.

Well, this came at an auspicious time. I am getting ready to submit an article to a scientific journal for the first time. I have been working on it for 5 years and yet I feel the same, it is being yanked from me. I find new, better information every day, but sadly it is time to give it up.
About the mistakes, the Persian rug makers are of the same opinion that a mistake needs to be incorporated into the pattern.
I wish I felt compelled to insert a mistake, but know that it is not necessary. If only I knew where it was.

I remember listening to Todd Rundgren's "A Wizard a True Star" album back in the early 70's, and in the song "Ooh, Baby, Baby," (I think it's that song) on the line, "Mistakes, I've made a few," there is an audio dropout - intentional I'm sure. I heard it only while listening with headphones. I always enjoyed that intentional mistake, and am delighted to hear of the others mentioned here.

Garrison -- We listened to the show last night returning from my sweetie's sister's home. The show and the trip home in the dark took just about the same time. Perfect timing! We loved your clever poem, cited above, and we both commented that we'd heard the story of your projectile vomiting and your shoplifted guilt before. Now we know why. Meeting your recycled stories is like meeting an old friend many years later, in an entirely unexpected place. Both events are and would be a delight. Dream on, spin on, keep the stories coming. We, your family of listeners out here in the dark, going home, feel loved and embraced by the glow of your stories.

It's interesting how many cultures believe that "only God makes perfect." As a pine-needle basket weaver, I've learned that Native American cultures believe this too. Cultures have more in common than how things might appear at first glance.