On editing

A little bit of a tiny rant to start off your morning today, something spicy to open up those nostril holes (heh heh, yeah, I know...I'm LAME). Helllloooooh, world.

Moving on with the rant. 

I will never understand - - - or perhaps, the more accurate phrase being "will not accept" - - - editors who feel the need to supplant, nay, eradicate, the voice of the writer, and not only that, but also replace the voice of the writer with with their own. It's an obvious overreach of the editor position, an abuse of a power, and honestly, a ridiculously selfish way of putting yourself out there instead of someone else. To pile it on, overediting is firstly a subtle, manipulative, and passive aggressive way of inserting your writing superiority into someone's work. Secondly, it's doing more harm to the writer than good. He/she will never learn how to improve their own writing if they get back their work absolutely replaced by red ink. And to synergize that, the writer will associate negative feelings with writing, you know, those famous ones like frustration and anger. I mean, if the writing is that bad and needs major changes, just tell the writer and have them rewrite it themselves! Then edit that rewritten work!

Granted, let's say that replacing the text with your red ink is exactly what the writer wants you to do, e.g. medical professionals who are lazy and who hire ghost writers, There are certainly spheres for that kind of editing in the paid world, and if that's what they're paying you for, go ahead! However, if a friend or an acquaintance or someone you actually want to keep in your life wants you to "edit their work for free," some words of advice. Feel free to take them or leave them. 

In all my years of editorial work, "good" editing equals minimal editing, preservation of the voice that is already there on the page, and small fixes to change inconsistencies or point out gross errors. Address the grammatical errors and don't introduce phrases that could be entered into pedantic arguments, and for goodness sake, don't change things that don't need to be changed just because you feel like "it sounded better in my head." I hate editors who do this, those who take out the jokes because they don't get them, or even worse, take things out and don't tell you why (like my organization thinks that jokes inappropriate). Honestly, I do. This kind of overediting is what gives editors a bad rap, makes people fear showing their writing to others. 

If you cannot separate yourself from the writing, if you feel the need to passively show others that you are a better writer, don't be an editor. And lastly, do not, and this has happened to me multiple times, do not publish someone's work WITH YOUR edits without their express consent. Seriously, unprofessional much?

Chana Masala with Pork

Overnight

1 1/2 C dried chana

1 beef bouillion cube

water

1-2 pork chops

3 TB hoison 

pinch of salt

Next-day

3 TB olive oil

1 large red onion

8 cloves garlic

2 knobs ginger (each 2 inches in length)

2 large tomatoes

2 TB unsalted butter 

2 TB coriander

2 TB garam masala (use 1 TB for less spicy)

1 TB curry 

2-3 C frozen peas

Note: to make vegetarian, use vegetable broth and omit pork

Rinse the dried chana and place in a large pot. Cover the dried chickpeas with water, raising the water line at least 3 inches above the chickpeas. Bring the water and chana to a boil and then dissolve the beef bouillion cube into the water. Boil for 10 minutes, then turn off heat, cover, and let soak overnight. 

Chop the pork chop(s) into tiny pieces, then rub the meat with a little bit of salt and the hoisin. Let marinate in the refrigerator overnight. Remove next day and let return to room temperature.

The next day, pour the liquid off the chickpeas, reserving the liquid. Now to prepare the remaining ingredients. Sift together the spices (garam masala, curry, and coriander) and reserve the mix in a small bowl. In a food processor, puree the onion, ginger, and garlic with a little bit of the olive oil until a paste is formed. Separately, roughly process the 2 large tomatoes and reserve in its own bowl.

To assemble the chana, heat 1 TB of the olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven until slick. Brown the marinated pork until almost entirely cooked, then remove from pot. Without cleaning the pot, add in the remaining 2 TB of olive oil and heat again until oil is hot and slick. Add in the aromatic paste (onion, ginger, and garlic) and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are mostly browned. Then pour in the processed/roughly chopped tomatoes and scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot (you can add a little bit of water at this point if it looks too dry). Bring back to a simmer and then remove from pot, reserving in a large bowl.

Still, without cleaning the pot, melt the 2 TB of butter completely in the pot. Then add in the dried spices and fry. Stir often and do not burn the spices. Once the spices are fried, add back in the tomato/aromatic mixture and the chana with the ~3 C of the reserved liquid and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, covered, adding more liquid is necessary. Then add in the peas and pork, simmering, covered for another 30-40 minutes, or until chana is extremely tender. 

Once chana is tender, uncover the let simmer until thickened to your desired consistency. Serve with plain yogurt and paratha and/or naan and/or rice.