Member-only story
I Heart Editors
Want to be a good writer? Learn to love editors
One of the biggest mistakes new writers make is being too stubborn about changes to their work. If you want to go from being an okay writer to a good writer who actually gets published, that means letting go of some of that ego and letting other people edit your work to make it the best it can be.
I get it. Your writing is your baby, and you don’t want some crazy person cutting up or criticizing your baby. But the truth of the matter is, editors can help your writing be clearer, more concise and most importantly, more accessible to your audience. A good editor will be able to point out where your writing is ambiguous or unclear. They’ll also tell you when you’re boring people, which is admittedly a tough pill to swallow, but more necessary than ever in an age when peoples’ attention spans are ultra-short. I know you may have worked hours or even years just to get those words down, and it can hurt to have someone tell you to just throw them away, but sometimes the best thing for your work really is to cut the excess and simplify. (Besides, you can always write more words later. That’s the nice thing about writing. You never have to stop.)
You may think you have a solid grasp of grammar, but trust me, editors — especially copy editors — will know things you don’t and save you from…
