Editors

Cover of Ernest Hemingway

You might have noticed from time to time that I’m redundant in this space.  You might find a few awkward turns of a phrase.  Maybe you think my grammar is off or that I’m taking 100 words to say something that you could express in 10.  You’re probably not wrong.

I don’t have an editor.  Believe me, it’s not because I’m sensitive about being corrected:  I’d welcome the advice.  It’s more due to the fact that this screed is a blog and is supposed to be kind of raw.  But what we do in business isn’t blogging and I want to spend a minute on that today.

I’m not Hemingway.  I’m certainly not Fitzgerald or Thomas Wolfe.  They all had Maxwell Perkins to edit their stuff as well as to be their coach.  When I used to ask folks in the office to read a presentation or a speech I had to make, I’d usually say to them “if Hemingway had an editor, I’m sure I can use one and I’m not sensitive about constructive criticism.”    If you’re going to put your best foot forward, you probably need one too.  I liked to ask someone who knew a bit (but not too much) about my topic to do the reading since they would be coming to what I presented with an open mind and enough knowledge to follow my thinking.

The other thing a good editor will do is to check facts.  One of the great things about the web is also one of the worst things and that’s the fact that anyone can post whatever made-up crap they want.  In my mind, the existence of editors within an organization is one of the things which distinguishes professional writing from amateurs like me.  Of course, if the editors have an institutional axe to grind, that distinction goes out the window but since we don’t do politics here we’ll table that discussion.

Accountants have editors – they’re called auditors.  Marketers have editors – they’re usually lawyers.  All of us in business need someone on whom we can count for open, honest criticsm of our wiriting.  Otherwise, the folks who have no editors might just be doing their writing about us.

Write me your take!