In Palm Springs recently, I watched palm tree trimmers doing their job. They climb a ladder as high as they can, then continue to climb using a belt (no safety harness or net!) and at the top employ a machete to cut off the dead fronds. Every year in the Southwest a few of these guys drop to their deaths. (By the way, the palm trees look way too sparse when these men are done, but within a couple of months the growth is such that the trees look normal again.)
By comparison, we writers have it easy when we cut and edit our material, but there are a few similiarities:
1. We have to figure out where the cutting is needed
2. We have to have sharp tools (a sharp eye for getting rid of the unnecesssary)
3. We have to be fearless--most writers don't cut enough for fear of damaging the material
4. We have to understand that we may have to "re-grow" the material--that is, add new material to fill it out
We also have to beware of stretching metaphors beyond the breaking point...oh oh.
