Finally, a leaf appeared. And just a couple days later, a second leaf.
Apparently, some climbing plants do this on purpose. They keep extending themselves before they put out much of anything worth looking at. The plant is growing. It’s just not growing in the way I want it to.
That got me thinking about our work as proofreaders and editors. Sometimes we’re doing all kinds of things behind the scenes: updating our website, learning a new skill, fixing a clunky workflow, following up with people, setting up a better way to handle inquiries or new clients. We’re doing plenty of work, but we may not be seeing any obvious results yet.
That can be frustrating.
We tend to like the “leaves”: the new client, the response to a follow-up email, the project that comes from a connection we made months ago. The moment when we can finally point to something and say, “See? It worked.”
But sometimes there’s a long stretch before that happens.
I’m still not a fan of the look of that bare 2-foot vine hanging above my desk, but when I see it now, I’m reminded that a lot can be happening before there’s much to show for it.
Maybe some of the work that feels like “nothing yet” isn’t nothing after all.
