November 28, 2011
The New Breed of Writers
The biggest shock to their increasingly delicate systems occurs when they actually see Big Name Writer’s copy emerge from the hands of an editor. How disillusioning to discover that BNW’s article doesn’t arrive in perfect form, that thoughts may be muddy, that insights may be unobserved … and that an editor actually pushes the writer to think, to make the changes, or wades in and makes the changes on his/her own, usually after discussion with said BNW. It is a bruising business, and only the highly articulate need apply. The goal, after all, is to say something worth killing a tree for.
comments
This is great, Andrew, thanks.
I’ve been writing ads and marketing content copy for a mid-sized mail order/E-tail company for almost nine years. If watching your work be edited by committees and ultimately “improved” or vetoed by an opinionated, semi-literate president doesn’t humble you, I don’t know what will. Maybe I should write a book about it…
Michael, you should.