Hi Writers,

Is there such a thing as National Editor's Day?

Well, there should be. Maybe I'll send that one in to Chase's Calendar of Events, where I was most recently the primary contact for National Word Nerd Day—January 8 (this is the sort of thing that happens when editors get bored).

If you love—or hate—an editor, please read this amusing, satiric piece by Michael Kinsley, courtesy of Time Magazine:

Writers vs. Editors: A Battle for the Ages

Here's an excerpt:
Like the detectives and the prosecutors on "Law & Order," two very different groups of people are responsible for the words that fill the world's magazines and newspapers. There are the writers, who produce the prose, and the editors, who do their best to wreck it.

Writers are sensitive souls--generally intelligent and hardworking but easily bruised. Treat them right, though, and you will be rewarded. Writers shape words into luminous sentences and the sentences into exquisitely crafted paragraphs. They weave the paragraphs together into a near perfect article, essay or review. Then their writing--their baby--is ripped untimely from their computers (well, maybe only a couple of weeks overdue) and turned over to editors. These are idiots, most of them, and brutes, with tin ears, the aesthetic sensitivity of insects, deeply held erroneous beliefs about your topic and a maddening conviction that any article, no matter how eloquent or profound or already cut to the bone, can be improved by losing an additional 100 words.

Of course, all it takes is a few hours surfing the Internet to make you appreciate the value of a well-edited book, magazine or newspaper.

Please feel free to leave all of your fawning remarks about editors here. You can use all of the exclamation marks you want—I know it's hard to contain your praise. When you're finished commenting, let me know what day you'd like me to submit to Chase for National Editor's Day—and no, Leap Year is not an option.

Keep Writing,
Maria