Terrible Editors
In 2013, I was living in Australia with Aloha, my partner.
Back then her English wasn’t as good as it is today, so she would often need my help to get things done.
I remember that one day she needed to write an email to the local bank.
“Can you help me write this?” she asked me.
“Start writing it. I’m sure you can do it.”
She wrote the email and then asked me to check it.
“Is it okay?”
It wasn’t okay.
The text was full of mistakes and unnatural phrases, so I grabbed her laptop, fixed a few things and then said, “All good, now you can send it.”
She looked at the screen.
She looked at me.
And then she went, “Really?! Of everything I wrote, the only thing you left unchanged is ‘Hi Lisa’?!”
Perfect example of a terrible editor.😅
“Good editors leave no fingerprints — they repair and polish writing so it looks just like the original, only better.”
This is one of the many things I’ve recently learned from an editing course I’ve been doing, and it’s also one of the topics I discussed with Adina Edelman, a professional book editor I interviewed this week on my YouTube channel.
If you’re looking to work as an editor or you’re wondering whether you should hire one, I highly recommend listening to her.
She’s a real expert.
And if you’re serious about your book project and want to become part of a small accountability group of writers, come join us in the Tiny Critique Group.
We’re tiny, but we do great things together.
Hope this email helps!
Speak soon,
Fabio
It is a mistake we sometimes do as teachers as well. Tough to know when to correct and when not to. Live and learn.
But for something official, I will let the pros do it.