Redacting Rosslyn

Redacting Rosslyn is less theme than catch-all, and it’s a little misleading perhaps, so I’d better clear it up from the outset. Let’s start with the idea of redaction…

redaction noun

1 The process of editing text for publication.

1.1 The censoring or obscuring of part of a text for legal or security purposes.

1.2 A version of a text, such as a new edition or an abridged version.

Origin Late 18th century: from French rédaction, from late Latin redactio(n-), from redigere ‘bring back’. (Source: Oxford Dictionaries)

Early on in the process transforming a home and lifestyle reboot into a story, I recognized that there wasn’t a nice tidy package for Rosslyn Redux. Or better put, I wasn’t successfully wrangling this adventure into a familiar format. A book, I initially thought, but what sort of book. Memoir? Thematically structured nonfiction? Lyric essay? Poems?

As I mucked around collecting and creating and curating content, I needed a temporary container until I could discern better direction. The blog was born. And soon it was sprawling and unwieldy, and so met with agents and editors to pick their brains. Unconvinced that the direction they wanted would best capture the story I thought I wanted to tell, I developed a short performance piece to 1) explore whether or not the stage might be the best vehicle and to 2) solicit feedback from a different audience than the blog about what sort of story they thought I should be creating.

Let’s flip back to the idea of redaction for a moment.

Origin and Etymology of redaction French rédaction, from Late Latin redaction-, redactio act of reducing, compressing, from Latin redigere to bring back, reduce, from re-, red- re- + agere to lead (Source: Merriam-Webster)

Although Redacting Rosslyn has evolved into a fourth theme, it’s really more of a meta look at my early decision to DIY this home rehab project, this storytelling project, and all of the other bizarre developments that fell into place when I became as obsessed with how and why to tell a story in this digital age.

It’s worth noting that the flavor profile for Redacting Rosslyn differs decidedly from Wanderlust to Houselust, Archeology of Home, and Rehab Ad Infinitum. I hope that the audience overlaps, but it probably leans more toward indie authors and artists, makers, and the sort of independent (and inevitably stubborn) DIYers who’d rather figure things out for themselves. Think of it as an afterward that so far has evaded completion…