My dictionary doesn’t think fettling is a word. It’s wrong.

Gary spends quite a bit of time fettling. It’s the present participle of the verb fettle and means sorting out, tidying up and tiddlying off.

Fettle is in my dictionary. It means condition or trim – as in ‘he felt in fine fettle‘. It can also be what you do to tidy metal castings or pieces of pottery before firing them.

Fettler is also in my dictionary. A fettler is a person who fettles.

I can’t say for certain this pot was ever fettled, but my Black Pearl chili growing in it is in fine fettle, don’t you think?

Quite a bit of fettling of my stories is needed before I’m ready to submit them to magazines or enter them in competitions. I think it’s worth the effort.