>Well I live with a vaguely famous editor and I can tell you that a >editor's real job is to: >1. massage the ego of writers who seem to believe that every word they >write is sacred, can never be altered or rephrased >2. correct punctuation >3. Cut, cut, cut and cut the voluminous outpourings to readable >chunks. > >Now before I get howled down let me add that this applies only to >those >writers who want to publish commercially, want to sell books and make >money. >A good editor is a very good reader. And a very good therapist. >Lesley > I'm an infamous...eh...not famous....editor myself, and I agree. I wasn't blasting editors or their jobs by my comments. With my creative work, if I can't live with the suggested changes then I apologize and inform the people with whom I've been working that perhaps my work isn't suitable for their publication. When I act as editor, I tell my writers, "this is what I need to do to this piece to be able to live with it, can you?" If not, it doesn't go in. I have some luxuries because I'm not working on a big money scale here :) Jim _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]