On the patience of sentences

There is a particular kind of patience that publishing rewards. It is not the patience of waiting — that is merely delay. It is the patience of attention: of reading a paragraph for the fortieth time and still being able to hear where it falters.

We believe a sentence is load-bearing. It carries meaning the way a wall carries a roof. Remove it, or weaken it, and something above shifts. Our work is to test each one.