Writing with a loaded gun

I like Ben Meyers' incisive and entertaining list of "13 Theses on Writing."

One of my favorites is #2:

Writing and editing. T. S. Eliot once observed that good writers do not necessarily write better than others, but are better critics and editors. Good writers cull the overpopulated paragraphs of their work. Like a farmer protecting the livestock, the writer lovingly separates whatever is sickly and infirm – and then loads the gun.

This image represents the darker side of Lewis' shepherding metaphor.