WRITING
Give Credit to Those Who Edit
Thank you, thank you
So if you want to enter a castle with questionable credentials, what do you do? Suck up to the gatekeeper, of course! (I’m guessing bribes are also accepted.)
But due to our lofty moral code, you and I would never do such a thing. This heartfelt essay is meant only to remind writers of the selfless efforts of a group of wonderful people. Our editors.
Why do they do it? Certainly, there must be a stream of rewards we humble writers just don’t see. Look in the comments, should there be any left by editors who took time from their massive workloads, and perhaps they will reveal their motivations. Or their pathos. [Editor, please provide the proper link]
Every story is a small window into the author’s soul. Providing one’s unborn text to a nearly unknown reviewer is an act of courage. Bravo to the brave writers. But our bravery is augmented by the acumen of others.
Give Credit To Those Who Edit
The above heading is wrong! Terribly wrong! It’s not in the title case! How would one know without having a kind and omniscient editor?
Consider the process. The editor receives a jumble of words fraught with errors and dubious intellectual merit. The editor must wade through the morass and provide guidance without rancor.
Guidance Without Rancor!
There are times when the merited response should be, “Stop wasting my time, kid,” or “Where did you go to school?” or “Hint: it is not a sin to use spell-check and consult Gramma Marly.”
And how could any novice writer know that AP style specifies that when referring to race, Black is capitalized while white is not? Who came up with this? Some reverse-racist capitalist?
Should we protest the evils of capitalism and capitalization in front of the Associated Press building carrying signs saying all men are created equal? And with more signs specifying that the “men” referred to on our signs specifies “mankind” which includes women?
The editor has made such extreme actions unnecessary.
And in all cases, the response to our drivel is civil. Even when not necessarily merited. And even when a piece is below the bar of acceptability.
We writers can only infer what editors go through. But the fact is that what they do is for our benefit. And through continued dialog, the result is improved. And over time, so is the writer.
Once upon a time, there was a realization that I’d selfishly caused more work for the person helping me. Shame on me. But it did give rise to some thinking about the editing mechanism and those who drive it.
Doesn’t it seem that Medium could do more to help the fine people who do the editing? What about the monetary rewards? I’ve checked with multiple editors, and $100 per story would be adequate. Stop laughing. How about a penny per word? Will this propel conciseness and brevity out the window?
Perhaps ensuring adequate caffeination would be enough. Or maybe invitations to the legendary exclusive wild parties at Castle Medium.
What about implementing tracking of changes? Seems like numerous private notes are wasteful of precious editing time. Why not provide an “Editor Mode” where changes and comments are tracked so both the editor and author can see differences at a glance? This little bit of help has been around for at least a decade. Can’t Medium adopt it?
How about an AI editor? Would it be Machiavellian and Orwellian or just ironic? Grammarly (the free version, of course) provides a desirable bit of proofreading, more than that just seems wrong. The collaboration of a human writer and a human editor on which broken rules are allowable makes sure that the soul of the script is not removed.
At the minimum, it seems that a small bit of coding would enable some positive reinforcement to flow to the editors. Why not provide claps for editing? Keep the claps for editing private if you must, but provide a way for authors to show their appreciation.
Or perhaps all these improvements already exist, and I’ve missed a basic function here on the Medium platform.
My editor will correct my error, no doubt.
Note to self (remove prior to submitting): Make sure these people are linked so they see this woefully self-serving post and can weigh in on their motivations. Katharine Valentino, Scott Tarlo (burned out but not forgotten), Terry Trueman, Nancy Peckenham, Michael Burg MD (What can MD possibly stand for?), Kristine Laco, Dr. Mehmet Yildiz, Christine Stevens, Mark Starlin, Jane Trombley, Ann Litts, The Sturg, and many more who elude failing memory.
