You’ll need to watch an ad to get a one-day pass if you don’t already subscribe to Salon, but this essay made my day: Let us now praise editors
I’ve also worked with writers who have reacted to my gentle suggestion that one of their precious, ungrammatical commas might perhaps be removed as if I’d insisted that Maria Callas perform “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” as the final aria in Bellini’s “Norma.”
Ya know, the more writing I do, the more I appreciate editors — and that includes anyone — professionals, amateurs, cranks, whoever wants to read what I’ve written.
Does that thought seem to come out of nowhere when it should have logically followed from all that came before? Whoops? Did I omit a word in the middle of that sentence? Suddenly change tense or person? Am I madly switching writing styles as I write or co-write?
In essence, did I in any way make you stop and think about my writing rather than allow you to focus on my content? If you can help me make my writing clearer and more interesting, please do help.
Hooray for editors!