Whence Comes the Editor

There's a major difference between print and electronic journalism. Print is forever. When it hits the presses, that's it. You can't revise it, you have to live with it. That's why print journalism is so much more difficult. You've got to get it right the first time, or at least the last time, because your name is on it.

Today's Back Page in Style has my name on it, my second in 3 years. This one was only half as hard as the first one. Given my experience, it is a wonder there is so little violence between editors and writers. It must be due to the editors, writers think there work was passed down from heaven. I'd rather have surgery than have someone edit my work. It is an interesting experience in which you fight, argue, and listen. You defend what you believe in and what you wrote and you listen to what's wrong with it or at least, that's how it seems. The payoff is when you see your name on the page and your thoughts beneath it and you realize how hard it was to get it there.

Thanks to Style for printing it, Scott for his editing and patience and Jason for playing the good cop. I look forward to doing it a 3rd time. I just hope there is less crying, table banging and temper tantrums next time, but who am I kidding. For now, I'm going back to blogging where no one rearranges your sentences.