Editing Has Its Privileges

Editing is more than correcting spelling and grammar. A good editor doesn’t work only with words and punctuation, although those are our basic materials. No, a good editor will always remember that there is an author behind those materials. Sometimes, if you’re on deadline or working on a particularly challenging piece, it’s hard to keep the author in mind; you have to get the work done, it has to be right, and it has to finished tomorrow. Other times, it’s impossible not to keep the author in mind.

Thousands upon thousands of people write. They put their lives, their dreams, their imaginings on paper, and sometimes that work comes to me. I have read agonizing stories of child abuse, of men and women caring for a seriously ill spouse or child, of people losing themselves in drug and alcohol abuse. I’ve also read fun or romantic or compelling novels that writers worked on for ten years and never showed to anyone because they were afraid the writing wasn’t any good. Many of these writers are quite talented; others are just average folks who want to tell a story. My job is to help them, and I believe the best way to do that is to think of this work as a privilege.

Thinking this way is not difficult. After all, writers are allowing me—little old me—to wade into their stories and change things around. Tinkering with someone else’s writing is not to be taken lightly. Many writers are shy creatures—at least about their writing—and I might be the first person in the world to read their work. That is certainly a privilege, and one I take seriously.