An open letter to editors

13 thoughts on “An open letter to editors”

  1. Oh dear! I submitted a piece to this challenge. I just went back and read it again. No paragraphs! I do apologise. Fortunately it was only short…

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  2. This totally rings true. I’m not an editor, but I do feel frustrated when I read something with no paragraphs, no punctuation, or riddled with spelling mistakes. These are so easily corrected, it’s such a pity to leave them in a piece of work that you are going to submit for public viewing!

    And I absolutely love some of those pieces you linked to, thanks! 🙂

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  3. As someone who writes in a foreign language, I would appreciate any kind of feedback with regards to the language and grammar I try to use. A gift has different meanings in English and German which I might forget from time to time 🙂

    Andrea, as someone who ‘used’ you as an editor, it was unexpected and really great to receive a comment from you. It was wonderful to get the feeling you made it through my mumblings without giving up half way through 🙂

    Cheers and thanks to you!

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  4. I so desperately want to be a better writer. At times, fear of grammatical errors is like a noose around my neck. However, I like your perspective. In the end, it is about clarity and respecting the reader. I have a lot of work to do and I know I make mistakes but I am inspired.

    I am so flattered that you mentioned my post. I think I am actually blushing

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  5. Thank you for the kind mention. I am a bit OCD about grammar and spelling, especially in this age of ever-present auto-correct functions. I recognize, of course, that that doesn’t mean I don’t make mistakes. But I can only imagine how taxing it must be to wade through so many varying types of submissions each week. A big thank you to all the editors!

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  6. This was an eye-opener. I’m an editor by profession and a writer on the side, and I met the challenge you posted. It’s hard to edit your own work, and for those of us who have fairly small blogs, editing honestly takes a back seat when we want to push content out to readers.

    I am guilty of this. We see how it is in our mind on the screen, and it takes either a break or a fresh set of eyes to see the mistakes. I like to pride myself with little to no mistakes in my posts, but every once in a while, I’ll slip up, have it pointed out, and shake my head. A simple read-through would catch so many mistakes, in my own work and for others out there.

    As an editor, I know just how trying and tedious it is to produce good content and find all the errors. I commend you for your participation in the weekly challenge and look forward to reading more from you.

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  7. What I liked most about this post was your honesty. It’s easy sometimes to sit back and make an assumption on how easy (or difficult) a task may be until you get to sit in that very hot seat yourself!

    As my teenaged son prepares to take his exams I try to remind him of the importance of good writing because as you noted, the examiner will not want to read a piece containing bad grammar, poor or no punctuation, far less fuzzy ideas (and yes, I plan to print this post for him to read later this evening when he gets home from school).

    As a writer I am holding on to the truth in your 6 craft tips which are now posted over my laptop:

    •Surprise us with a different point of view
    •Language matters
    •Funny is good
    •Be concise!
    •Teach me
    •Show don’t tell

    Thanks for sharing and for keeping us on the ‘write’ track.

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