or Seeing the Unseeable

A week ago, I received a gift of teeth–and the gift of perspective. For the first time in my life,  I was able to see a part of myself I understood so little about.

My mother always insisted I had a big mouth. In fact, more than once she has noted I am lucky to have a big mouth and small teeth. I guess that’s my mother’s perspective on me and my mouth. (Maybe she was trying to say I talk a lot–but, as I’ve mentioned before, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.)

I’ve decided to agree with my dental friend’s perspective. He used the smallest tray to cast my teeth and insists that I just have long gums.

The Gift of Teeth

I love idioms. I’m obsessed—you’ll find them landscaped into much of my writing. I even use idioms translated from other languages when I can—chances are you just think I’m crafty at combining images with metaphors. (Here’s a link for searching  idioms.)

So, when I received the teeth, I couldn’t help thinking of horses…

Gift horse–from pixabay.com

Never look a gift horse in the mouth: When given a horse, it would be bad manners to inspect its mouth to see if it has bad teeth. This can be applied as an analogy to any gift: Don’t inspect it to make sure it matches your quality standards, just be grateful!

…unless you’re given a gift of a cast of your teeth. Then, I say you should get them mounted and hinged and examine them well! Maybe even put them on your mantel like I have.

(Also, ask someone in the dental field to explain what you’re looking at so you can understand the model.)

Things I’ve Learned from my Gift of Teeth

Apparently, I have mandibular tori—a bony growth in the mandible along the surface nearest to the tongue. I only know this because I was recently told about it. First of all, it’s difficult to find something you don’t know exists. Secondly, it’s hard to look into your own mouth and really see what’s inside—especially if you have nothing to compare it to.

I was also amazed at what my teeth look like from my tongue’s eye view (okay—the play on words doesn’t quite work here, but I wanted to let you know I tried to make it happen.)

Looking lovely on my mantel…

Sigh…Okay, Rach.What’s your point?

Smile! You’re on camera–well, at least on this blog post.

What do teeth have to do with writing?

Okay, okay! Stop gnashing your teeth! The point is that sometimes others can tell me things about my writing that I simply cannot see.

I look at my teeth every day, brush them and floss (yes, I do Mickey!) and make sure there’s no spinach stuck between them, but I can only see what I can actually see—what I’m looking for. I understand my teeth—they are a part of who I am. (Yet, I couldn’t figure out why my front bottom teeth were getting worn out.)

I know exactly what I intend the reader to interpret or understand by devouring the sentences I craft. But I’m looking from one angle—the angle I know so well because it is a part of me. A story I just finished editing made so much sense from my angle—I knew my character so well it was as though I was her. My editing friend Linda said to me, “Do you want me to sympathize with her or hate her? I’m feeling nothing here.” I was shocked—I left the story for a while. My brain magically worked out the details I needed to add. Someday soon,  that same story will be published in one of Canada’s top literary journals (knock on wood!). I might even be able to retire—or at least get a free copy of the magazine.

The point is that her perspective allowed me to fix the problem and turn a mediocre story into one you’ll really want to sink your teeth into.

Editing can be like pulling teeth: Gaining Perspective

But less so if someone analyzes what they see in my words. I’d give my eye teeth to be able to look from the opposite angle, but instead, I trust the opinions of others. They can see so much that I can’t because I’m too close to the writing. (For more on what readers can do for you, click here)

Perspective–seeing the unseeable!

It seems the problem is I need a night-bite. I had no idea. Just like my editing friend saves my stories, my dental friend is saving my teeth.

Thanks for the night bite, Brian. Good night everybody!

**DISCLAIMER:

Always ask for a second opinion, but know that there might be truth in the first. Investigate, try it out and then do something with that knowledge. Or at least enjoy the knowledge even if it seems useless today. I bet you it’ll come in handy someday.